S1E108: Can cash, childcare leave and BTO priority get Singaporeans to have kids? | National Day Rally 2026

If you’ve been thinking about having kids, last night’s National Day Rally might have given you something to rally about. Parents - and those who are considering having children - were the focus of PM Wong’s address on August 23. In a nutshell, parents will get more help: more childcare leave and financial support, along with lower pre-school fees and more ballot chances when buying their first BTO flat. But will this move the needle on our Total Fertility Rate, which now stands at 0.87? Natasha asks Senior Parliamentary Secretary Goh Hanyan from the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth why the Government shifted its stance to consider every child equally. Dr Reuben Ng, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and a father of four, shared his thoughts on when the Government needs to roll out more measures for this reset to count. Highlights (click/tap above): 2:17 Were the parenthood measures good enough? 6:56 Why tackle the cost concerns first? 12:15 Should mothers get medals for having more kids? 17:24 Why not taking leave is sometimes seen as a “badge of honour” 20:41 Hanyan’s experience juggling political office and being a mother-of-three 25:14 What about colleagues who cover parents on leave? 28:20 Are singles getting the short end of the stick? 33:41 Politically risky to invest so much public funds into parenting? 38:21 How fast does the Government need to roll out the measures? Host: Natasha Ann Zachariah ([email protected]) Read Natasha’s articles: https://str.sg/iSXm Follow The Usual Place podcast on IG: https://str.sg/8KNT Follow Natasha on LinkedIn: https://str.sg/v6DN Filmed by: Studio+65 Edited by: Eden Soh & Natasha Liew Executive producer: Danson Cheong Producers: Natasha Ann Zachariah, Elizabeth Law & Zachary Lim Follow The Usual Place Podcast and get notified for new episode drops every Thursday: Channel: https://str.sg/5nfm Apple Podcasts: https://str.sg/9ijX Spotify: https://str.sg/cd2P YouTube: https://str.sg/theusualplacepodcast Feedback to: [email protected] --- Follow more ST podcast channels: All-in-one ST Podcasts channel: https://str.sg/wvz7 Get more updates: http://str.sg/stpodcasts --- Get The Straits Times app, which has a dedicated podcast player section: The App Store: https://str.sg/icyB Google Play: https://str.sg/icyX -- #tup #tuptrfSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.