Australian parents holding off family plans to cash in on Coalition's generous paid parental leave scheme

FAMILY planning may take on a whole new meaning over the next year as parents wait to qualify for the Coalition's more generous paid parental leave scheme from July 2015.

BREATHING ROOM: Eliza Cook with her Ethan. She will wait for the new scheme before having a new child. Picture: Matt Turner

FAMILY planning may take on a whole new meaning over the next year, as mums- and dads-to-be hold off baby-making, instead waiting until their newborn will qualify for the Coalition's more generous paid parental leave scheme from July 1, 2015.

And demographers say this could lead to a lull in births in the lead up to the scheme being introduced before an expected boom in babies.

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The Coalition's scheme would see working mothers paid six months' leave at their existing salary, up to $75,000, compared with the current scheme where women are paid 18 weeks at the minimum wage.

Social researcher and demographer Mark McCrindle said Australia could expect a population boost in light of the scheme, particularly considering there had been consistent rises in the birthrate since the baby bonus was first introduced in 2002.

"There has been a direct relationship between the baby bonus and other financial incentives and the birthrate," he said.

"In fact, the birthrate got to its lowest rate ever recorded in Australia in 2001 and that was the year the baby bonus was introduced and ever since then we've seen birth numbers turn around and continue to rise."

Mr McCrindle said Australia was already in a significant baby boom, with the birthrate having exceeded 300,000 for the first time last financial year.

He said he could understand that a couple who was planning on having a child anyway would do the sums and decide to wait until the new incentive was introduced; a possible calm before the baby storm.

The scheme could also encourage couples to have more children than originally planned, he said.

"We do know that the number of women remaining childless has remained about the same, it's still about one in four, so this increase in the birthrate is because women who've had a first will have a second and women with a second, have a third," he said.

Mawson Lakes mother-of-one, Eliza Cook, 29, said she and her husband would definitely wait until Abbott's scheme came in before having another child.

"It might not seem like much, but an extra two months' pay, especially with the cost of living these days, is huge," Mrs Cook, who works part-time while looking after son Ethan, 2, said.

"It will give us a little bit more breathing room where I won't have to rush back to work; I can have that quality time with my new baby."

Population expert, Professor Graeme Hugo said it was long established that the average Australian woman wanted two children, but the average was 1.9 children for every woman - so not every mother was able to have the two children she desired.

"A lot of that does relate to women feeling they have to choose between having a career and having a family," he said.

"It's always been a big inequality in Australian society that for men, no one questions that they can have a full family life and a full career.

"But for women, so often it comes down to it being a choice."

He said a more generous paid parental leave scheme was another brick in the wall of things that Australian society could designate as family friendly.

"But things like child care still loom very large," he said.

"We know that this (scheme) is going to assist some people, but they have to want to have the baby first.

"People aren't going to do it just for the sake of the money; they're really going to want to have that child first."

Mrs Cook, who works in a credit union and sits in the $35,000 to $48,000 pay bracket, said many of her friends who were in similar financial positions to her, were saying they would wait to access the higher scheme.

But Prof Hugo warned against waiting.

"If women do delay it, then they may not be able to have the child and we know that's the case: women keep delaying it and it becomes more difficult to have that child," he said.