A LEADING church body wants the baby bonus scrapped to curb rampant population growth.
The Anglican Church's key advisory group also wants migration cut.
The problem with this, as many have pointed out already in the mainstream media, is that Australia already has a below replacement fertility level. It's not people having too many babies that is the current issue, but the blow out in migration levels:
Liberal frontbencher Bruce Billson said he was surprised by the Anglicans' proposal.
"I would have thought that at a time when we're not even replacing Australians that are passing away by newborn Australians, that attacking the baby bonus is probably the last thing you would do," Mr Billson told Sky News.
If the fertility rate were to fall even further, it would just give the business lobby more ammunition to call for higher rates of immigration.
On the positive side, at least the Anglican Church is one major institution opposing open borders:
It also said the overall migrant intake should be cut while being more generous to refugees.
"The question must be asked whether our current and projected population growth is fair to future generations of Australians and to other life in the environments our descendants will have to inhabit," it said.
"The growing congestion of cities, destined to become worse, means much time lost in commuting, more polluted suburbs, denser housing and the loss for many of suburban gardens in which to relax and still have some communion with nature."
Last year a General Synod of the Anglican Church called on the government to:
avoid any reliance on continuing population growth to maintain economic growth.
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