The ACT has the lowest fertility rate in the country, says Jo Clay MLA, Chair of the Legislative Assembly’s Standing Committee on Health and Community Wellbeing. According to the Australian Institute of Family Studies (2023), the fertility rate in the ACT was only 1.45.

Why do ACT women have so few babies, and what can be done about it? To find out, the Committee will undertake an inquiry into raising children in the ACT.

The inquiry will examine supports and challenges for ACT residents who hope to have children, including access to fertility treatments; adoption; the cost of living; availability of paediatric specialists; environmental concerns; and access to family and community support.

The factors influencing whether people have children are complex and diverse, Ms Clay said.

“The committee has heard that in addition to fertility struggles, there are several social and economic factors affecting peoples’ decisions about having and raising children, including the increasing cost of living and availability of services,” Ms Clay said.

Those factors include cost of living pressures; the availability of affordable housing suited to the family’s needs; and the costs of raising children, such as education and participation in extracurricular activities.

“Through this inquiry, we hope to identify practical actions that will better support prospective parents and children,” Ms Clay said.

The Committee would like to hear from a range of stakeholders, and is calling for submissions addressing any or all of its terms of reference to inform its inquiry. Submissions can be emailed to: [email protected].

More information about how to make a submission is available on the Assembly webpage.

Submissions close at 5pm on Friday, 5 April. Full terms of reference for the inquiry are available on the committee’s webpage: Inquiry into Raising Children in the ACT – ACT Legislative Assembly.