It depends on which word you believe to be the subject of the sentence. Technically, the subject of this sentence is one, and that would take a singular copula. Nevertheless, one could argue that babies is the real subject, and that the noun is modified by the adjectival phrase "one in 12 Australian" — and that is probably what most people's ears would hear.
My advice would be to use the singular in any academic or formal writing and not to worry about it otherwise.
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