Tycoon campaigns for Australian baby boom

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,18900338-421,00.html

Tycoon campaigns for baby boom
By Edmund Burke
23-04-2006
From: The Sunday Mail (Qld)
 

AN ELECTRONICS millionaire has launched an Anzac Day campaign calling on Australians to have more babies.
Jaycar Electronics chain owner Gary Johnston has spent $250,000 on full-page advertisements in newspapers throughout Australia urging Australians to "do their bit" for the country's ageing population.

The advertisements, mostly to run on Tuesday, are headlined: "Anzac: the birth of a nation. Now we need births to save our nation."

The advertisement continues: "Put off your McMansion or your home cinema or flash holiday and do something that will help underpin this nation of which we are so proud.

"While you are still young and fertile why not consider having another child? A child in the spirit of the Anzac. A child for your country.

"It's a lot less sacrifice than our soldiers made . . . "

Mr Johnston, 56, a Sydney businessman who describes his personal wealth as "many, many millions", told The Sunday Mail Australians had become selfish and needed to remember the Anzacs' self-sacrifice.

"I went to Gallipoli in 1991 on the 75th anniversary and it was the most moving experience I have had in my life," he said.

"Those poor buggers had an attitude of self-sacrifice that we have lost in this country.

"There is a lot of selfishness in the Australian way of life these days.

"This country has been good to me and I have more money than I can spend. I have spare cash and I want to put it back into this country."

The father of four children aged from 26 to 2 said Australia's birth rate was suffering an alarming decline and needed to be increased from 1.76 per fertile woman to 2.1 "just to maintain our present population".

He said he was also in favour of immigration but Australia needed to keep its balance of home-born citizens and immigrants.

"Immigration is something that I am very keen on. We need immigrants in this country and my business wouldn't work without them," he said.

"But any dynamic country needs to produce (its) own citizens and the young people in this country are going to have to carry the burden of our ageing population."

Mr Johnston said his campaign was ongoing and he hoped to get the support of other wealthy people.

It is not the first time Mr Johnston has opened his pockets to contribute to Australia's future.

This month he donated $1 million for a new water research team at the University of NSW in Sydney.

Gee, what better way to be "patriotic" or to do our part for humanity?

Just do "what comes naturally." How hard can that be?

You have the big screen TV, or at least a color TV, air conditioning, stove, refrigerator, car, home, etc., but few if any children? What's missing in this picture? Why not share all that stuff, with some wonderful children? Why not fill empty, wasted bedrooms, with precious children?

Maybe it's too hard, for a bunch of selfish, industrialized, British or European or whatever prudes?

Australia hardly has any people to begin with. I think it will take more than a few slick advertising slogans, to get such nearly childless people to breed.

I wish we here in the U.S., had more pronatalist advertising. It sure beats the "give us more money" stupid corporate giant advertisements that so much dominate the free over-the-air TV channels.