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In a column in yesterday's Sydney Morning Herald entitled ?The budget delivers, even for single poets?, Tony Abbott sought to defend - no celebrate - the Government's family handouts on the basis that the government is recognising "responsibilties", not just "income" Abbott got it half right. It is true that parents generally have more responsibilities than non-parents. After all, if you choose to take on a family lifestyle and experience the pleasures and challenges that parenthood brings, you should also be willing to properly look after and provide for your children. Accordingly, choosing to have children means that you have less money (and time and emotional energy) for other things in life. But while it is one thing to "recognise" that parents have greater responsibilities and costs, it is another thing entirely to subsidise them for making the choice to take on the lifestyle that generates those responsibilities and costs. Abbott's article of course did not provide any justification for subsidising such personal choices. For all the Liberal Party's talk about people needing to take "responsibility" for the effects of their "choices" in life, the Government's family policies do the opposite.
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