Australia’s fertility crisis: I've been warning about this for years

Australia's fertility rate has collapsed - again. The numbers are now impossible to ignore.

We're at 1.48 births per woman. This is the lowest since records began more than a century ago.

That's far below the replacement rate of 2.1, the level we need to simply sustain our population without relying on migration.

And yet, despite years of warnings, debate, and hand-wringing, our government still hasn't stepped up with real solutions.

I was in Parliament House in Canberra just last week (pictured above), talking about this very issue - urging decision-makers to act before we hit this point.

I said then what I'll say again now: women are not the problem. Women are not "choosing" not to have children. They are being cornered by cost-of-living pressures, by career insecurity, by the impossibility of affording a home - and by biology.

We can't change economics overnight, but we can change biology's impact through access, education, and empowerment.

Egg freezing is one of the clearest, simplest ways to give women back time and choice.

It's not a luxury - it's a form of reproductive equality.

By enabling women to freeze their eggs early, we give them freedom - the freedom to build careers, find stability, and still have the chance to start families later.

This is how we start to turn the tide - not by blaming women for "waiting too long", but by giving them the tools to take control of their fertility on their own terms.

This is also how we help fix the broader population challenge.

If we empower Australian women to have children when they're ready, rather than losing that chance altogether, we ease the pressure on migration as the only driver of population growth.

Migration is important, but it shouldn't be a Band-Aid for a fertility crisis we could have prevented.

I've been saying this for years, and I'll keep saying it until someone listens. Because the numbers don't lie. The fertility rate keeps falling. The median age of new mothers keeps rising. And yet, government inaction keeps holding us back.

We can't keep pretending this is an issue for "later". Later is now.

If we want women to have a real choice, if we want families to feel supported, if we want Australia to have a sustainable future - then fertility support, egg freezing education, and long-term reproductive policy reform must become national priorities.

I froze my eggs in my 20s because I understood what was coming. Most women can't afford to. That's the problem.

It's time our leaders caught up to the reality women have been living - and listened.