” is as divisive as any plan that Bill Shorten articulated in 2019.
It is a shameless seduction of wealthy home owners in the electorates being contested by teal candidates, at the expense of voters with normal houses in the regions and in the “ordinary” parts of the capitals. But devising a plan to end the housing Ponzi scheme that undermines social justice within Australia is “not his job”.The erratic flailing of the PM and Liberals is increasingly Kafkaesque.
According to the ABS, as at January 2022 the average owner-occupied home loan in Australia was $620,000. If interest rates increase to 2.5 per cent, by the end of 2023 young couples will be paying extra interest of $13,330 a year. The key to affordability is to increase supply and decrease demand. This is basic economics, which I learned at university almost 50 years ago. The problem is we currently have a PM who studied marketing, not economics.Scott Morrison’s plan to allow first home buyers to withdraw 40 per cent of their superannuation, to a maximum of $50,000 is a desperate attempt to save his flailing government.
It would also be a can kicked down the road – twice – for first home buyers. If and when they sell their homes, they are left with less capital gain.Global oil prices have increased, so Australian petrol companies have increased their prices to maintain their margins . This is not surprising, and there was no outcry, even though petrol prices feed into inflation, which increases the prices of almost everything else. They maintained their margins.
Since when did often low-income Australians become the shock absorber for price increases that are not their fault? Surely oil companies and supermarkets, to cite just two examples, are better able to fairly absorb these increases, rather than the very poorest wage earners.Cleaner energy can also be cheaper