Gary Johns’ suggestion that compulsory contraception ‘would help crack intergenerational reproduction of strife’ has been slammed by welfare groups

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

A former Labor MP has been slammed for suggesting people should only receive welfare payments if they are on forced contraception.

Welfare organisations said Gary Johns’ suggestion was draconian and ill-informed.

Johns lost his seat 1996 and has distanced himself from the Labor party since then. He penned an opinion piece in the Australian on Tuesday saying taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for other people’s decision to have children.

“There should be no taxpayer inducement to have children,” Johns said. “Potential parents of poor means, poor skills or bad character will choose to have children. So be it. But no one should enter parenthood while on a benefit.

“Some families, some communities, some cultures breed strife. Governments cannot always fix it. Compulsory contraception for those on benefits would help crack intergenerational reproduction of strife. As for inadequate non-beneficiaries, we just have to grin and bear it.”



Johns pointed to the recent case of a Cairns mother accused of stabbing seven of her children and her niece.



Therese Edwards, head of the National Council for Single Mothers and their Children, said the measures proposed by Johns were “draconian”.

“It’s ill-informed, poor policy and dangerous because of the stigma it attaches to single parents,” Edwards said. “It’s a simplistic, weak argument. It’s rare to come across any family who’s struggling on benefits who thinks it’s a wonderful life. They’re more aware of what they’re missing out on.”



Edwards said Johns’ opinion was “born out of ignorance” and “leapfrogs over systemic issues of welfare in order to blame the individual”. She also queried how such a policy would be administered and policed.

A former social justice commissioner, Tom Calma, said the article amounted to “naive statements made by someone in privilege”.

“What it is is welfare bashing,” Calma said. “We don’t acknowledge that government has a responsibility to all people.” He said cutting off reproductive rights for an individual was a “slippery slope”.

Calma pointed out that Johns’ opinion piece failed to mention the amount governments spend on inducements for middle-income families to have children.

“We do provide welfare for people who are not poor through government subsidies … because we are a caring society,” Calma said, adding that those payments were seen as a different matter by people who had never been on the dole.

Susie Edwards from New South Wales branch of Parents Without Partners struggled for many years to make ends meet after losing her part-time job. She said high-income earners thought people on welfare got “too much for doing nothing”.

“They don’t understand,” she said. “You have to live the life to understand. Walk in my shoes.”