Mr SHORTEN (Maribyrnong—Leader of the Opposition) (19:31): This is a budget and a government that wants to bury its past and rewrite its history. The Liberals want Australians to forget four wasted years in which wages growth has hit record lows, unemployment is up, underemployment and casualisation are at record highs, living standards have stagnated, inequality has widened. This budget is an admission of guilt, a signed confession.
Posts By:
Retro budget cements higher tax and spend
Politically it is brilliant, redolent of the Menzies’ method of stealing your opponent’s clothes. Economically it is a disaster, although it does deal with the debt situation, but at a cost.
More tax, but no more affordability, in ALP housing policy
The inability of Labor’s Treasury Spokesman, Chris Bowen, to explain how Labor’s new housing “affordability” policies could decrease house prices shows it is not about affordability at all.
Super for deposit only immediate solution to “affordability” crisis
If the aim of federal government policies is to increase affordability without decreasing house prices, then there is only one solution – allowing potential purchasers access to all their savings, including superannuation.
Party Games Monday April 3, 2017
This week's program concentrated on flooding, politicians and townplanning.
Housing affordability inquiry avoids change for change’s sake, but falls through the deposit gap
The analysis by the majority is fundamentally sound, and avoids the mistake of thinking that housing affordability can be fixed by introducing more Commonwealth Government regulation and tax. But it misses the real problem for first home buyers, which is the deposit gap.
Submission to Federal Government Free Speech Inquiry
We've just submitted our submission to the Federal Government Free Speech Inquiry.
Broad-based support for ABCC Bill
A survey of 1020 Australians demonstrates broad support for the government's ABCC Bill, but no support for an anti-union campaign.
By how much will abolishing negative gearing reduce house prices?
Abolishing negative gearing is sold as a solution to housing affordability, but if it does nothing to reduce the price of houses, then it does nothing to solve affordability. Yet proponents of negative gearing continually tell us it will not affect house prices at all.
De-Newmanisation not working #1
Queensland Housing Minister Mick de Brenni's determination to return welfare housing to its Soviet-style past provides the latest natural experiment into what public policy approaches work best.
Twitter Feed
Historically Australian interest rates have been higher than US rates. Makes sense - which currency... would you rather hold. So why would you expect Aussie interest rates to dive when US interest rates are holding up. #InterestRates #RBA #housing https://data.bis.org/topics/CBPOL/tables-and-dashboards
