[00:00.000]Craig James, an economist at CommSec, said Australia's baby boom
[00:05.634]appeared to be a result of strong consumer confidence and an unemployment rate of just 5.1 percent .
[00:13.606]"Unemployment is at a 28-year low, wages are up, confidence is high,"
[00:18.914]James told Wednesday's The Australian newspaper .
[00:22.100]"People are feeling like it's safe to start a family again."
[00:25.296]Australia's birth rate had been in steady decline since 1990,
[00:30.601]dropping to a half-yearly low of around 125,000 births during the April to September period of 2002 .
[00:38.577]Australia's conservative government has tried to boost flagging fertility by offering financial inducements,
[00:46.003]including a 3,000 dollar (2,324 US dollar) payment to parents introduced on July 1.

Craig James, an economist at CommSec, said Australia's baby boom
appeared to be a result of strong consumer confidence and an unemployment rate of just 5.1 percent .
"Unemployment is at a 28-year low, wages are up, confidence is high,"
James told Wednesday's The Australian newspaper .
"People are feeling like it's safe to start a family again."
Australia's birth rate had been in steady decline since 1990,
dropping to a half-yearly low of around 125,000 births during the April to September period of 2002 .
Australia's conservative government has tried to boost flagging fertility by offering financial inducements,
including a 3,000 dollar (2,324 US dollar) payment to parents introduced on July 1.