omg i hate centrelink! agreed?

Yes, I read it somewhere too, but I don't know how true it is.
I'm positive the amount of young mums increased in my area since the bonus was introduced.

But of course, young mums are not necessarily all bad. It depends on the person. I became a mother at 18. I realize I made a mistake, but I do love my kids.

I honestly think instead of the 'baby bonus' they should be doing something similar to food vouchers, like baby-related vouchers for simple things like a pram, a cot, or even nappies.
I have seen young mothers who got the baby bonus, and they went on to have 5-6 children *sigh*

If I needed 5 grand, 1, I'd be slapping myself for getting into a situation where I needed a heap of money, and 2, I'd be getting out a personal loan, not getting pregnant.

But that's me..

That's exactly what I think too! It makes so much more sense.

We received the baby bonus for our child and given our circumstances it was very, very helpful. It wasn't essential, but it definitely took off some financial burden. However, I think instead of the baby bonus the govt should have concentrated more on paid parental leave (which they finally are doing now).

And the difference between the BB and Maternity is (well for me) $26 over the 16wks. I am thankful for the maternity leave benefit. AND your employer pays it and claims it back from the government, so TECHNICALLY you're not getting a handout from the government, your employer is that and the reason a lot of working mothers don't have kids (or put it off until they are in their 30's or 40's) is because they can't afford to stop working. I have a girl at work who had her son just before xmas and is coming back to work end of May because she has too. Does this mean she shouldn't have had the kid? Not really. If we all put off having kids until we could afford it we (the full time working population) would never have kids, and the future of Australia would be left up to the dole bludgers (no thanks!).

God help this country when the baby boomers all stop working. Yes there will (or at least should) be a lot of jobs opening up, but things will come to an abrupt halt for a little while, and we'll see more caravans on the road (oh yay!).

And yes I second all that. Instead of seeing the mum wearing Gucci, we should see babies wearing it! (not quite, but you get my point)

Please don't misunderstand - I wasn't saying at all that I agree with the BB.  I don't.  I do, though, believe strongly in paid parental leave (which should not just be maternity leave!) for many reasons, some of which Raven set out.

I'm not even sure when the BB is being retracted, of if it already has.  Although I'm an Australian citizen, I'm not a resident so I'm not eligible for anything.  We'll get a few things over here - the UK equivilent of family tax benefits - because my husband and the baby will be UK citizens.  If I were working I'd be eligible for maternity leave, and my husband will be eligible for paternity leave.

I'm pretty sure everyone recognises that the BB was, all in all, a total bust.  Yes, it encouraged more people to have kids.  But, it was so wrought with problems that I think a lot of people realise that they should have just put the money into a maternity/parental leave scheme much, much earlier.  They did, a few years ago now, bring in added regulations for women in certain situations (on long term benefits, under a certain age etc.) that saw the bonus paid in small fortnightly sums rather than a lump sum.  Maybe it would have worked if it was nappy vouchers/food vouchers etc.

Oh god...  the thought of more caravans on the road makes me glad I don't live in Australia.  At least there are a lot of Baby Boomers who are absolute workaholics and won't retire any time soon.

Or can't afford too...

I believe the best thing they did with the BB was make it fortnightly payments rather than lump sum. Had they done that from the beginning it would have been even better. But I hadn't heard they were discontinuing it. I think that is a good thing. But wait until all the mothers-to-be who don't have jobs cry out that those of us who do get payments and they don't. Little do they know that we don't get ANY other handout WHATSOEVER. Unless you count the Medicare levy. Pfft.

Maybe they're not, maybe they were just talking about it - I'm not really up to date.  I wonder if the maternity leave benefits will have a clause like those overe here - women who are unemployed or self-employed (provided they meet certain requirements, particularly in cases of unemployed women) get paid parental leave by the government.  It's a different 'kind' of payment to regular maternity leave, but the same thing essentially.  I think it's a good system, particularly to combat the problem encountered by self-employed women.

For the maternity leave you need to have worked X amount of hours for X amount of time before taking leave (I can't remember stats and really CBF looking them up lol) and you have to be with current employer 12mths before taking leave (I qualify by 1 month!!).

Not sure how it works if you are your own boss though...