Many of you are probably choking, spluttering and firing expletives in reaction to these comments. I know I did. But I am also aware there are those who agree with this view. Many being politicians. To an extent there is nothing wrong with this. It is a personal opinion and while I find it offensive personally, I know a lot of women who feel they would not be "complete" had they not reproduced and a lot more who would have liked to be mothers but aren't. However, there are also many who believe they "dodged a bullet" by remaining childfree; those who have learnt to accept their circumstances happily and those who were ambivalent in the first place. Oh and men, the thousands of men who don't have children and who, every time I write about the subject, approach me for inclusion in the discussion. It is the salient fact that this collective childfree voice is being overlooked not just by traditional society but the policy makers who shape it, that is of real concern to me however. Because as someone who is childfree, I feel unseen by government. Add to this the fact I live alone and well, I may as well be invisible. In fact, the only time my situation acknowledged is acknowledged by government is usually post-budget, when I follow a situational link to ascertain how much my financial burden may have lifted, only see the big $0 every time.

What politicians appear to be missing (and more fool them for doing so) – is what childless and sole occupant households add up to as a collective in this country – a whacking great slice of the population that is on the rise to soon become the majority. By 2031 the Australian Bureau of Statistics predicts Australians without kids will account for 43 per cent of families, overtaking those with children by 5 per cent. It is a trend that is mirrored globally in first world countries. According to the US Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, in 2014, 47.6 percent of women between age 15 and 44 had never had children, up from 46.5 percent in 2012. This represents the highest percentage of childless women since the bureau started tracking that data in 1976. In the UK, childless households are already the second most common family type.

You would think the black skivvy set of advertising and marketing would jumping all over us; that astute politicians would see our votes and covet them, that society would start to accept this as the norm it is – and has always been in some measure. But in 2016 this is still not the case. In an election of inertia-inducing slogans – (heard the one about jobs and growth per chance?) – we, the invisible, have remained as such. No slogans for us! Working families is a mantra for policy makers. Families with kids the electoral bullseye. What is also being foolishly overlooked is the proportion of single-occupant households in this country, people who are left to pay the bills alone. Lone-person households are projected to increase to 3.1 million (30.2 per cent of all households) in 2026. This represents the fastest projected increase of all household types. While this may not be what society and the Christian right dominating both major parties today prefer is irrelevant. It is a fact and a force that childless and single occupant households are to an extent the future. Yet no one seems to be speaking to this future, certainly not in this country. Perhaps it is time politicians acknowledged our plight, to see that being solely responsible for a household in these trying times is difficult too. And perhaps it is time society as a whole stopped viewing the child free as lacking, as going "against humanity" or nature.

Maybe if we stop confusing those who live alone as lonely and start seeing that this is often a lifestyle choice, and an expensive one at that (but never as dear as the choice to have a child, especially when you can't afford to do so). Because what's really "giving up on humanity" is not acknowledging and accepting the many forms it takes. Let's stop thinking and talking like Turkey.