Day 24

“Australia’s 226 federal #MPs own 459 #properties across the #country – an average of two per person – and more than half are property investors as the country prepares to go to the poll in a campaign that will focus on the growing #inequity in the #PropertyMarket.”

The point of the system is to punish those who don’t exploit it.

#AusPol / #Labor / #Liberal / #LNP / #Nationals / #HousingCrisis <https://archive.md/RK0SE> / <https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/interactive-see-how-many-properties-your-mp-owns-and-their-other-financial-interests-20241226-p5l0q4.html> (paywall)

Day 23 cont

“#Russian warnings to #Australia that “you have no cards” to stop Russian #military activity in the #IndoPacific have been mocked by #AnthonyAlbanese, who has dismissed an incendiary letter from an #ambassador as #authoritarian “#propaganda”.

The fact and his merry mob entertain the charade over Indonesia makes you wonder are they putting Country before job?

#AusPol / #Labor / #LNP / #Liberal / #Nationals / #Coalition / #slogans <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/21/propaganda-albanese-mocks-russias-you-have-no-cards-warning-to-australia>

Day 23 cont ️

“#Gambling ads are everywhere – even during the #footy. It’s not normal, and it’s not OK. I’ve written the bill to ban them. It’s ready. The major parties stalled. In a #balanced #parliament, we can make it law. #Independence works.” — MP/Candidate #Goldstein, Daniels.

#AusPol / #Advertising / #AnthonyAlbanese / #Labor / #LNP / #Liberal / #Nationals <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/apr/21/coalition-sex-offender-register-peter-dutton-labor-early-voting-election-easter-monday-ntwnfb?page=with%3Ablock-680597fc8f08195611b6bcbc#block-680597fc8f08195611b6bcbc>

Day 23 cont

“I have no wish to help #promote Russia’s #propaganda messages and I would suggest that that is not in #Australia’s national interest either.” — PM

#Labor responding to #LNP, #Liberal & #Nationals on Indonesia.

#AusPol / #slogans / #policies <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/apr/21/coalition-sex-offender-register-peter-dutton-labor-early-voting-election-easter-monday-ntwnfb?page=with%3Ablock-6805848d8f08195611b6bc62#block-6805848d8f08195611b6bc62>

Day 23 cont

“The #shadow attorney general, Michaelia Cash, has been tasked with explaining more detail on what the #Coalition is announcing on #crime this morning.

Speaking to ABC RN Breakfast, she’s boiled the announcement to establish a national sex offenders disclosure scheme, and a commitment to bolster border resources as a crackdown on “drugs and thugs”.”

#AusPol / #immigration / #borders / #Australia / #slogans / #LNP / #Liberal / #Nationals <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/apr/21/coalition-sex-offender-register-peter-dutton-labor-early-voting-election-easter-monday-ntwnfb?page=with%3Ablock-68056d898f08195611b6bc07#block-68056d898f08195611b6bc07>

Day 22 cont

“Opposition #Leader #PeterDutton says former #HomeAffairs Department secretary #MikePezzullo , who was sensationally sacked from the public service in 2023 for #misconduct and later stripped of his Order of Australia honour, “should have a role to play in the future of this country” if the #Coalition wins the election.”

They say this is Leadership.

#AusPol / #Liberal / #LNP / #Coalition <https://archive.md/5k7Qm> / <https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/dutton-says-sacked-home-affairs-boss-pezzullo-should-have-a-role-to-play-in-nation-s-future-20250420-p5lsz7.html> (paywall)

Day 22 cont

“The #Coalition (#LNP, #Liberal, #Nationals) is refusing to say if it will introduce any #policies to cut #Australia’s #greenhouse #gas #emissions in the next decade as it pledges to #unwind most #ClimateMeasures introduced under #Labor.

#PeterDutton’s position on the #ClimateCrisis came under scrutiny last week after he gave contradictory answers on whether he accepted mainstream climate science. Asked during a leaders’ debate on the #ABCAustralia whether #ExtremeWeather events were worsening, the opposition leader said: “I don’t know because I’m not a #scientist”.”

Say IT AS IT IS.

The #LNP under the leadership of the #PeterDutton has no policies. Policy changes are random.

#AusPol / #ClimateEmergency <https://theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/20/bordering-on-incredible-coalition-under-fire-for-planning-to-scrap-labor-climate-policies-and-offering-none-of-its-own>

Day 22 cont

“Nearly half of all #renters sit in the bottom 40% of income levels, compared with just one-fifth of first home buyers.

“If you’re in the bottom two #quintiles of income, you’re probably not really going to have enough #income to be servicing a #mortgage, whichever way you go,” Phillips says.

“There’s not a lot that we’ve seen in the election #campaign to really help those people, and they’re the people who really are #struggling.”

That leaves nearly half the renting population, or four million #Australians, beyond the reach of homebuyer help even before the new #policies arrive.”

If you don’t own or cannot afford a home, Australian politicians are not interested in you.

#AusPol / #LNP / #Liberal / #Labor / #Nationals <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/20/who-actually-benefits-from-the-coalition-and-labors-housing-policies>

Day 22

“At the time, the International #Monetary #Fund (#IMF) had just released a staff report on Australia's economy which contained this graph of Australian house prices. It shows how #PropertyPrice #inflation had really accelerated in the early 2000s (in real terms, once inflation had been taken into account), which explains why people were so worried.

The index of real property prices in major #Australian #cities jumped by 46 per cent between 2000 and 2003. (Source: International Monetary Fund, Australia, Staff Report for the 2003 Article IV Consultation, September 3, 2003.) In its report, the IMF noted that investor demand was contributing to the property price increases. It said that was understandable, because the expected returns on housing were far outstripping returns on other assets in Australia in the early 2000s.”

"Consequently, by the end of 2002, investor housing accounted for 30 per cent of the stock of housing loans, compared to 18 per cent a decade ago,"

Australians are being played for mugs by the *Investor Class.*

#AusPol / #LNP / #Liberal / #Nationals / #Labor / #HousingCrisis <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-20/when-housing-turned-toxic-captured-in-talkback-chat-with-pm/105155458> / Original transcript <https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-20920>

Day 22 cont

Cont:

You: Phyllis is the first one, I guess.

Phyllis: I've broken the mould.
PM: Well, you're not ... you're not actually #complaining. What you're really saying is the value of [your] house hasn't gone up enough.

Phyllis: No, no, no. I disagree. I think it is ridiculous that the #inflation of house prices ... what about our #grandchildren?
PM: Well look, that is a valid point and I've acknowledged that.

I'm not saying there aren't problems for people buying for the first time, but you have to look at it in terms of both #existing #HomeOwners and #future home owners and what we have to try and do, and you quite rightly identify in relation to your grandchildren, is to find ways of mitigating the #cost of getting into your first home.

But we can't, and shouldn't do that at the cost of reducing the wealth effect and the wealth value of people who have existing properties, there's nothing to be gained by that. We have to find some other ways of #ameliorating the cost of buying your first home.

Phyllis: I think some commonsense has to be thrown into the arena just the same. You know, it's ridiculous. I mean, *you're not seeing value in the $500,000 you're spending on some broken down old dump* and…

PM: No, well...
Phyllis: That's where we are at the moment.”

#AusPol / #LNP / #Liberal / #Nationals / #Labor / #HousingCrisis <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-20/when-housing-turned-toxic-captured-in-talkback-chat-with-pm/105155458> / Original transcript <https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/release/transcript-20920>

Day 22 cont

“#CostOfLiving is the most important issue for Vote Compass respondents regardless of age, education, birth, sex, and voting intention, but particularly among those under 40”

“Keeping day-to-day living #costs down was the most important issue for electors identified by respondents of a Roy Morgan survey of 14,713 voters in the September quarter of 2024 who were asked to identify their top three issues”

“The second-most important issue for respondents differs by voting intention, with Liberal-Coalition voters concerned with #immigration and the #economy and Labor voters concerned with #ClimateChange.”

#AusPol / #LNP / #Liberal / #Nationals / #Greens / #Labor / #independents <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-20/federal-election-2025-most-important-issue-vote-compass/105178788>

Day 22 cont

“Traditionally safe seats are #flipping around the country, as voters put their hopes and dreams in independent and non-major party candidates.

But it takes more than just hopes and dreams to create a seismic political #shift that flies in the face of decades of voting history.

So what does it take for a #challenger to pose a real threat to a #SafeSeat?”

#AusPol / #LNP / #Labor / #Liberal / #Nationals / #Teals / #Greens <https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-20/safe-seat-disruptors-changing-political-landscape/105191762>

Day 22 cont

“Advocates wonder why the new commitments have targeted a small number of first home buyers over the larger number of lower-income people living in #RentalStress. And industry experts warn the situation has become so dire, they are only seeing #DINKS (dual income, no kids) or people with #inheritance make it on to the #PropertyLadder.”

#AusPol / #LNP / #Labor / #Liberal / #Nationals / #HousingEmergency / #Housing / #renting <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/19/housing-affordability-income-stress-saving-deposit-labor-coalition-policy-federal-election>

Day 22 cont ️

“‘Nobody’s going to walk with her’: can #JacintaNampijinpaPrice work with #Indigenous organisations if she becomes minister?”

Read the article yourself to grasp the support / lack of support for Price by Australian Indigenous leaders. Also read about the lack of reporting of protests at the Price press conference last Sunday.

#AusPol / #LNP / #Liberal / #IndigenousAustralia / #senator <https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/apr/20/nobodys-going-to-walk-with-her-can-jacinta-nampijinpa-price-work-with-indigenous-organisations-if-she-becomes-minister>

Day 22 cont

“Traditionally, #Queensland candidates, whether federal or state, promise to take the fight to #Canberra. They project themselves as defiantly parochial, unashamedly maroon, with a vested interest in the north. More recently, however, #power has shifted from the #regions to the #urban south-east, which is more likely to welcome new #arrivals from other states than Queensland country towns. Amid all this growth, the lines of #responsibility have blurred between federal, state and even local government. Rather than fighting Canberra, the parties – including the Greens, who thrive on street-level combat – have taken to #fighting each other.

At the last election, the #Greens picked up three seats in Greater #Brisbane, riding the winds of change. The #TealMovement was unsuccessful in its first federal foray into Queensland, in the seat of Groom, although Suzie Holt enjoyed a healthy flow of preferences and is running again.

For now, the closest thing Queensland has to #independents are Bob Katter and Gerard Rennick, but the south-east is becoming used to newcomers.”

#AusPol / #Liberal / #LNP / #Nationals / #planning / #GrowthCorridor / #facilities / #transport / #basics <https://archive.md/7GbkF> / <https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/nowhere-is-growing-like-this-corner-of-queensland-it-s-changing-the-political-game-20250415-p5lrzn.html> (paywall)

Day 22

“I’m in jail because I stood up to Government who has lost respect for #truth and #law, and the nation of Australia, and sacrifices our nation for their own selfish re-election campaigns”

“Probably only one thing is guaranteed about this election: that in three years time #Australia will be in worse shape that it is now.

That is because our system promotes ‘window-dressing’: pretending to do good things with expensive #PR and #media campaigns, while actually doing the opposite. The party which tells the biggest boldest lies, and makes promises that it has no intention of keeping, will win. Australia will lose. A hung parliament is our only hope for progress.

If you want to understand the concept of #WindowDressing, all you have to do is consider how #Labor came in on a promise of more transparent government, a better deal for #women and #ClimateAction. Its hard not to smile in a black-humoured way when those three things are now considered in light of the last three years.” — #DavidMcBride

#AusPol / #OpEd / #whistleblowers / #OSI / #NACC / #AUKUS / #LNP / #Liberal / #Nationals / #WarCrimes / #BenRobertsSmith <https://michaelwest.com.au/the-system-needs-to-change-war-crimes-whistleblower-david-mcbride/>