‘Your kids are not our problem’: Senator David Leyonhjelm lets fly over Australia’s ‘obsession’ with families

SENATOR says making childless Australians subsidise families is as cruel and unfair as ‘making people in wheelchairs pay for other people’s running shoes.’

LIBERAL Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm believes it’s unfair for childless Australians to be subsidising the lifestyles of those who choose to have “little blighters”.

Speaking in support of legislation which would strip childcare and other benefits from parents who don’t immunise their children, Senator Leyonhjelm said most welfare payments for parents should be abolished.

“The government is not your parent or your spouse — get over it,” he told the Senate on Monday.

“To the childless people of Australia I want to say, on behalf of this parliament, thank you for being childless.

“You work for more years and become more productive than the rest of Australia. You pay thousands and thousands of dollars more tax than other Australians. You get next to no welfare and your use of public health services is minimal. But you pay when other people get pregnant, you pay when they give birth, you pay when they stay at home to look after their offspring, you pay for the child’s food, clothing and shelter, you pay when the child goes to child care and you pay when the child goes to primary and secondary school. And then you pay when it goes to university.”

Senator Leyonhjelm said making childless people pay for other people’s choices was not just unfair, but in some cases cruel.

“Some people are childless by choice and are happy with that choice. There is no moral case to make them subsidise other people’s choices.

For some people, childlessness is not a choice; it is a great sadness. Forcing them to hand over money to more fortunate people is like charity in reverse. It’s like making people in wheelchairs pay for other people’s running shoes.”

He said Australian politicians were “obsessed” with families, despite a quarter of households being single, and a further quarter made up of only an adult couple.

“Since it is about time somebody did, I rise to ask: won’t someone please think of the childless?”

He singled childless couples and singles out for praise, because they were often “ignored”.

“Thank you for all you do for others. I am sorry that rather than receiving thanks, you are often ignored, pitied, considered strange, or even thought of as irresponsible.

“For your sake, I hope the children you are forced to support don’t end up as juvenile delinquents, and I hope that they get immunised so that you don’t end up getting sick, because you’ll pay then too.

Senator Leyonhjelm was speaking in support of the Social Services Legislation Amendment (No Jab, No Pay) Bill 2015, legislation that would compel parents to immunise their children in order to receive government support.

“It is bad enough that people continue to bring wave upon wave of these little blighters into the world. The least they can do is immunise their bundles of dribble and sputum so they don’t make the rest of us sick.

“Immunisation generates a significant social benefit, and parents do not have a right to welfare payments. Such payments are, fundamentally, a gift from their fellow Australians. No work is done for the money, so there is nothing wrong with placing conditions on it.”

Originally published as ‘Your kids are not our problem’: Senator David Leyonhjelm lets fly over Australia’s ‘obsession’ with families