Go forth and multiply, Australians told

AUSTRALIAN couples owe it to their country to have more children - and should get on with the job, the nation’s treasurer says.

"You go home and do your patriotic duty tonight," Peter Costello said when he was asked by a journalist if he was "the family-friendly treasurer saying get out there and procreate". In a federal budget revealed yesterday, Mr Costello promised A$3,000 (1,170) for every baby born after June, as part of a five-year, $19.2 billion "family package".

He explained that two children per couple in the nation of 20 million just was not adequate.

"If you can have children it’s a good thing to do. You should have ... one for your husband, one for your wife, and one for your country," Mr Costello said.

"If you want to fix the aging demographic, you’re just back to square after two. You make no net improvement."

The former lawyer and father of three said that some would have to go one step further by having extra children "for your country" to make up the gap left by friends who "aren’t even replicating themselves".