The secret plan for a baby-led recovery? Budget population projections are based on surge in newborns.Credit:Peter Braig
The budget,released in April,is based on the nation's fertility rate - the number of children born per woman - to rise to 1.9 per cent by 2021 and then remain there for at least a decade.
The last time Australia had such a high fertility rate was the final baby-filled year of the Gillard government in 2012. The fertility rate has fallen every year since.
Senator Keneally said based on the government's own forecasts,natural population growth - births minus deaths - would add 725,000 people this year and over the next 3 years. That would mean a record 167,300 in natural growth in 2019-20,rising to 192,200 by 2021-22.
It would require four consecutive years of record births,prompting Senator Keneally to ponder the government's"lie there and think of the budget"policy.
"Is the Australian government predicting a new baby boom?"she asked Finance Minister Mathias Cormann.
"What do you know that Australian couples don't know about what's going to happen over the next four years?"