Politics

Federal

Population

Opinion

Shane Wright Senior economics correspondent October 16, 2025 — 5.00am

Bridgerton fans will remember the scene.

Lady Featherington, hopeful of a male heir to secure the family’s place in Mayfair and society, discovers the two daughters she managed to marry off have next to no idea of the process required to produce a child.

Sometimes I believe economists, and plenty of politicians, are almost as befuddled as Prudence and Philippa when it comes to the importance of demography when it comes to economic policy.

Many of the public figures debating immigration and the nation’s population seem as ignorant about babies and their source as those confused Bridgerton ladies. They also seem unaware of the issue at the other end of the demographic sp

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