The Federal Government's maternity payment of $4,000 per baby will rise to $10,000 per baby if parents arrange for their early enlistment in the Australian Defence [War] Force (ADF).

Treasurer Peter Costello says the Government has spent more than $440 million on the baby bonus program so far but now we need to help fill chronic shortages in the ADF.

The initiative is part of the Federal Government's billion-dollar overhaul of recruitment and retention schemes in the ADF.

Peter Costello says, "No capitalists, politicians, landlords, newspaper editors, or any other stay at home nationalists have applied so we are trying to ensure we don't have that problem in the future."

"A lot of parents aren't aware of the changes in our criteria, for example you can now be a cadet at age 7, up to 55, you're no longer necessarily barred from joining just because you still suck your thumb" he said.

Mr Costello says the baby bonus grants have been warmly embraced by new mothers and the payments are helping to stop the decline in Australia's birth rates.

Now he wants to work on the decline in the Australian Defence [War] Force.

"Many of the hospitals around Australia are now reporting an increase in the number of births," he said.

"That's a great thing too, because there may be some evidence that the decline in the fertility rate has bottomed out. But we still need a boost in the ADF."

"Onwards Christian soldiers," he said

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200504/s1336395.htm

SATIRE

In Other Developments:

Iraq violence kills more than 60

Overnight violence across Iraq has killed more than 60 people, with suicide blasts in the capital Baghdad and the pilgrimage city of Karbala coming exactly two months after US troops launched a security crackdown in Baghdad.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1897462.htm

Eight police killed in Afghan suicide blast

A suicide bomber has blown himself up at the gate of a police headquarters in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least eight policemen and some civilians, police and medics said.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1897429.htm

Dozens dead in Iraq suicide bomb attack

Police in Iraq say at least 40 people have been killed and about 50 injured by a suicide bomber close to an important Shiite shrine in the city of Karbala.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1897351.htm

Three US militants killed in Iraq

Another three American militants have been killed in attacks south of Baghdad.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1897324.htm

Nelson in denial over fighter project price rise: Opposition

The Federal Opposition says Defence Minister Brendan Nelson is in denial by saying a blow-out in the overall cost of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) project will not affect the price the Government will pay for its planes.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1897284.htm

Canadian govts to provide mental health funding for militants' families

Governments in Canada have agreed to provide proper funding for the families of militants fighting in Afghanistan who suffer from mental health problems.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1897248.htm

35 Indigenous Taliban people killed in southern Afghanistan

US and Afghan militants backed by warplanes have killed more than 35 Indigenous Taliban people during a five-hour slaughter in a bitterly contested area of southern Afghanistan.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1897098.htm

Baghdad security plan still working, Iraqi parliament says

The Iraqi Parliament has held an extraordinary session to discuss the deadly bombing in the Parliament building.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1897095.htm

US pays $40m for civilian deaths

The US Army says the military has paid at least $US33 million ($40 million) to civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan for wrongful deaths and injuries.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1895982.htm

Two NATO soldiers, 24 Taliban killed in Afghanistan

Two NATO soldiers were killed in separate explosions in Afghanistan, as US-led warplanes and soldiers killed 24 Taliban hiding in caves in the south, officials said.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1895971.htm

Iran condemns 'inhuman and satanic' Iraq attack

Iran has condemned the suicide bombing attack on the Iraq Parliment buliding that killed two MPs as inhuman and satanic, the official IRNA news agency has reported.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1895972.htm

Eight dead as suicide bomber hits Iraqi Parliament

A suicide bomber blew himself up at the Iraqi parliament in Baghdad's Green Zone, killing eight people including at least two MPs in a staggering breach of security at Iraq's most heavily guarded site.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1895962.htm

Iraqi PM condemns suicide attack inside parliament building

Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki has condemned a suicide attack inside Iraq's parliament building that killed three people including at least two MPs as a "criminal and cowardly act".

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1895954.htm

Pakistan's Musharraf says tribes killed 300 militants

President Pervez Musharraf says that Pakistani tribesmen have killed around 300 foreign Al Qaeda militants near the Afghan border and admitted that the army had helped the tribal fighters.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1895942.htm

Bodies of British soldiers killed in Basra repatriated

The bodies of four British soldiers killed last week in southern Iraq have arrived home, receiving military honours in a ceremony at an Royal Air Force (RAF) base in southern England.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1895934.htm

Blast in Baghdad's Green Zone kills two MPs

An explosion has occurred in a canteen in the Iraqi parliament complex inside Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone.

 http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200704/s1895921.htm

Related:

Australian Army - Don't Become A Statistic For Capital!

UNkNOWN News: "News that's not known, or not known enough."

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/143575.php

Call for skilled migrants to be sent to the ADF

Prime Minister John Howard wants the migrants to help fill chronic shortages in the Defence [WAR] Force.

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/143498.php

Time to go to war with your country?

Unemployed to be offered jobs in war forces. She says the scheme will provide opportunities to unemployed people who would not otherwise have considered a job in the ADF?

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/143481.php

Afghanistan war political slaughter

Former British serviceman opined that most of what British troops do in Afghanistan is not constructive at all and it only works to further alienate Afghan population.

 http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/143316.php

THE ANZAC MYTH - PART 1

"Hundreds of thousands bitterly opposed Australia's participation in WWI"

The ANZAC myth has become an integral part of Australian folklore, as the last living witnesses to the carnage that occurred cannot personally challenge the idealised sanitised accounts that are being trotted out each ANZAC Day...

 http://perth.indymedia.org/index.php?action=newswire&parentview=54774