Hanson - unmarried mothers' welfare costs.

Pauline Hanson today made it clear One Nation has very strong feelings on unmarried mothers continuing to have children at taxpayers' expense.

"I am not speaking of women whose marriages breakdown and who then find themselves in the position of having to raise their children without the help of the father - my concern is for those who start young with children out of wedlock and then repeat the performance - in many cases with a different man.

Everyone makes mistakes and young girls in particular are vulnerable to pressures that may leave them the mother of an unplanned child but we should expect that once having had the experience of a child out of wedlock more care would be taken to ensure the situation is not repeated.

It is particularly disturbing young girls or women go on to have more children from different fathers and then finish up in a de-facto relationship with a man not related to any of the children. There is no way this is in the interests of the children, it is a serious breakdown of the family unit and it is a practice we must not support.

The real figures for teenage sole parents receiving the pension when compared to population growth show marked increases, a fact that has been hidden in the percentage figures usually stated. The number of teenage mothers receiving sole parent pensions alone has more than doubled between 1976 and 1996 - 5009 to 10,443, while the population over the same period has only increased from around 13.5 million to just under 18 million or about 32% increase.

We must not do anything to foster the prospect of multiple children out of wedlock - it is not in the real interests of the mothers or the children, especially when the mother is little more than a child herself. The cost to the taxpayer for teenage sole parents alone currently runs to over 120 million dollars a year.

Under our policy, assistance to unmarried mothers will not be extended beyond the first child. This would not affect existing recipients and be announced with plenty of lead time before introduction so as not to impact those who already have a second or third, etc, child on the way."

Statement issued by Pauline Hanson MP, member for Oxley

Nation - Pauline Hanson's One Nation Press Releases.