Georgie Dent’s National Press Club address this week helped move an important conversation about families forward.
asserted
address → help → families
One observation from Dent, the chief executive of advocacy body The Parenthood, has stayed with me: our workplaces, schools and broader economy can still operate as though there is a “spare adult” somewhere in the family, ready to absorb the gaps.
asserted
workplaces → stay → gaps
Yet economically, partnership still offers protections one-adult families do not have.
asserted
families → offer → protections
I have a seven-year-old son I adore, a career, family and friends around us, and a life that feels full.
asserted
that → have → us
We increasingly say marriage is not a prerequisite for a complete life.
asserted
marriage → say → life
Economically, however, pooling income, care, housing costs and risk with another adult remains a powerful advantage.
asserted
pooling → pool → adult
Dent’s broader argument is that raising children reaches into workforce participation, productivity, housing and Australia’s falling birth rate.
asserted
raising → raise → participation
We understand part of this through the “motherhood penalty”: the fall in women’s earnings after they have children.
asserted
they → understand → children
But there is another layer when the mother experiencing that penalty is also the only economic adult in the household.
asserted
mother → be → household
Twelve weeks of school holidays against four weeks of annual leave, to which Dent put a number: two full-time working parents with primary-school-aged children face an estimated 814-hour annual gap between school hours and working hours.
asserted
parents → put → hours
He shared my desk, climbed onto my lap and made occasional cameos in Teams calls.
asserted
He → share → calls
I can work from home when he needs me, and I have a boss who understands parenting.
asserted
who → work → parenting
But the care still has to be provided and the work still has to be done.
asserted
work → have → ?
Sometimes the same person has to do both at once.
asserted
person → have → both
Housing makes the economics harder to ignore.
asserted
economics → make → ?
But if I take a less demanding job because my son needs more of me, there is no second salary in the background.
asserted
son → take → background
If I want to buy a home near the family and friends who help make our life possible, one income has to carry the debt.
asserted
income → want → debt
Australia had about 1.2 million one-parent families in June 2025.
asserted
Australia → have → June
Among one-parent families with dependants, 71 per cent of single mothers were employed.
asserted
cent → employ → mothers
These are not families sitting outside the economy.
asserted
These → sit → economy
They are working, caring and contributing within it.
asserted
They → work → it
Of course, a partner does not guarantee shared care, financial security or an equitable division of labour.
asserted
partner → guarantee → labour
Nor do I think every additional cost faced by a one-adult household can, or should, be solved by government.
asserted
cost → think → government
I earn a good salary and have choices many others do not.
asserted
others → earn → choices
I chose single motherhood knowingly and wholeheartedly.
asserted
I → choose → motherhood
But freely making a choice does not mean its structural consequences should escape scrutiny.
asserted
consequences → make → scrutiny
Some things are simply easier and cheaper when two adults can share them.
asserted
adults → share → them
That fact should sharpen the policy conversation, not end it.
asserted
fact → sharpen → it
When we assess whether a family is financially secure, income tells us only part of the story.
asserted
income → assess → story
It does not tell us who provides the care, who leaves work when the school calls, or who absorbs the shock when nobody else is available.
asserted
nobody → tell → shock
We have spent decades expanding the choices available to women: to work, own property, leave relationships, not marry and, increasingly, become mothers without partners.
asserted
We → spend → partners
The next question is whether the systems surrounding those choices have evolved at the same pace.
asserted
systems → surround → pace
Freedom is not only about being able to choose a life.
asserted
Freedom → choose → life
It is also about whether the world around you has made room for that choice.
asserted
world → make → choice
Get a weekly wrap of views that will challenge, champion and inform your own.
asserted
that → get → own
The Aporia
