Talking Politics

[MD Jazz]

You know, we are pretty much the most urbanised country in the world, the proportion of Australians who live in capital cities is very high. Capital city house prices matter. Yes, the ridiculously exclusive and expensive suburbs you cite are always going to be expensive, but that was why you chose them obviously. What is ridiculous is that a family with 2 professional incomes could barely afford a house in Altona these days let alone somewhere like Bentleigh. Back years ago a 1 income family of a factory worker could afford a house. We have gone backwards so far on housing affordability it is criminal.

So, if the negative gearing goes all the investors will stop buying houses. Good, maybe they will be affordable for people who actually want a home. I presume when the investors go away the houses don't just disappear. The Hawke-Keating govt reintroduced negative gearing, even though they knew it was a complete swindle, because they were gutless.

DS

Yeh affordability has been eroded. My dad bought a house in 1972 in Essex Heights. Big block, one income. 4 kids. No benefits. He was an accountant earning just over the average wage. House price was 3 times Ave annual earnings. It’s now over 10 and rising. The Ave wage earner has little opportunity without assistance of getting into the housing market like my parents did.

And that ain’t good for the fabric of society.

 

[tigerman]

There is close to 140,000 active Air B & B's in Australia, no wonder the the price of housing and rents are through the roof.

 

[BT Tiger]

There is close to 140,000 active Air B & B's in Australia, no wonder the the price of housing and rents are through the roof.

Airbnb is a scourge on society. I only stay in them for work when we travel in a larger group because my boss insists on it. Otherwise it's hotels all the way. Seems many capital cities are starting to heavily regulate them and I'm hoping Australia heads the same way. It really gave me the *smile* when the NSW gov overrode the Byron Bay councils plan to cap airbnbs at 90 days.

NSW government strips Byron council of authority to cap short-term rentals such as Airbnb

Intervention came a day before council voted to cap use of some residential accommodation at 90 days per year

www.theguardian.com

 

[K3]

Gotta love Juice Media!

This time, the NSW LNP govt are in the spotlight.

 

[AngryAnt]

1. Not everyone who owns investment properties are rich. There are many hard working folk who have bought investment properties to fund their retirement, so they won't be a drain on the government.

Not all, but again, middle class welfare Nico.

4. The AMA encourages GPs to bill privately. Bulk billing works, and it still does, but many GPs turn their nose up at it. You have to work harder though, through chronic disease management programs and the like compared to private billing GPs who take their $90 for 6 minute appointments. I had GPs earning $450K+ p.a. basically working 9-5 M-F. I sold the medical centre 3 months before COVID (nicely timed) as it was becoming increasingly difficult to recruit GPs. If recruitment of GPs wasn't an issue, I could certainly open a chain of bulk-billed medical centre in the cities.

Yeah what you did is fantastic and all, like I said. Strange then that most people who attend GPs in metropolitan and many rural areas still pay gap fees. You don't seem to have a solution to this apart from "I did it". The shortage of GPs is part of the structural issue I would argue.

5. Let's see how Dan goes with his new SEC. Will be interesting.

Agree.

Of course private is more efficient both in textbooks and in the real world. Do you really think the public service is more efficient than the private sector?

And yet again you fall back on economic theory, completely disregarding the structural realities in the Australian situation - monopolistic providers, bad government private partnerships, unscrupulous contract awarding to mates of the Torys, gold plating of infrastructure to again line the pockets of LNP donor companies, etc etc. Sure we have choice - of retailer. That's it.

Looking forward to you actually addressing these points instead of just "of course privatisation works".

 

[BT Tiger]

1. Not everyone who owns investment properties are rich. There are many hard working folk who have bought investment properties to fund their retirement, so they won't be a drain on the government.

Can't discuss much of the rest of your post and I don't have the experience you do, but I find this point hard to reconcile with. Anyone who owns an investment property outright, assuming they're not paying off 2 mortgages, I would consider wealthy. They may be cash poor, but they're asset rich. I don't understand why someone who's struggling doesn't liquidate their extra house and put it into shares or super. They're not to be a drain on the government that way.

 

[Nico]

1. To me the answer for negative gearing has always been to cap it. If interest on loans for negatively geared property was capped ( say to interest on $500k or some other number) then the argument that the “hard working folk” are being disadvantaged would disappear.
2. I have had experience with the AMA in a different sector to you but it has always amazed me that they are held in such high regard. (They have been called the CFMEU in white coats). Firstly membership of the AMA is quite low, although it is higher with GPs than specialists. Secondly I have found them to be interested in little apart from maximising doctor’s incomes and appearing to be experts on everything by offering easy access to commentary on health for the media. Not sure what your view on that is.

The inability to recruit GPs is a big issue and what we are now seeing is that trainee doctors are steering away from GP training as well which is just going to make the issue worse.

I share your views on the AMA. CFMEU in white coats is a very good analogy. They certainly have the ear of governments.

Yes, the number of trainee doctors choosing general practice as a specialty is really plummeting. I read somewhere that the most common presentation for GPs is mental health, something that young GPs aren't that interested in. It's a real issue that needs to be addressed.

 

[Sintiger]

I share your views on the AMA. CFMEU in white coats is a very good analogy. They certainly have the ear of governments.

Yes, the number of trainee doctors choosing general practice as a specialty is really plummeting. I read somewhere that the most common presentation for GPs is mental health, something that young GPs aren't that interested in. It's a real issue that needs to be addressed.

Yes, there is also a lack of doctors wanting to specialise in mental health and if they do they want to work privately where the money is.
The other area of concern is trainee surgeons. The hours can be very unsociable and not family friendly.

 

[DavidSSS]

Looking forward to you actually addressing these points instead of just "of course privatisation works".

Ant, you have to understand what they mean by "works".

Does it work to reduce prices as a result of increased competition? Well, no, but that wasn't the intent.

The intent of privatisation is to shift the blame for any price rises and screw ups away from the government (hey, you can't blame us, we no longer run the power companies/public transport/airline/bank etc); and to line the pockets of their mates.

When you look at it from this perspective it works a treat.

DS

 

[tigerman]

Airbnb is a scourge on society. I only stay in them for work when we travel in a larger group because my boss insists on it. Otherwise it's hotels all the way. Seems many capital cities are starting to heavily regulate them and I'm hoping Australia heads the same way. It really gave me the *smile* when the NSW gov overrode the Byron Bay councils plan to cap airbnbs at 90 days.

NSW government strips Byron council of authority to cap short-term rentals such as Airbnb

Intervention came a day before council voted to cap use of some residential accommodation at 90 days per year

www.theguardian.com

Another article.

In this Sydney suburb, one in three homes is empty. It’s not just a data error​

There are 164,624 empty homes in Sydney, yet we have a five-figure waiting list for public housing. In the latest in our Unseen Sydney series, experts say solving the city’s housing crisis will not be simple.
By Angus Dalton, Billie Eder, Millie Muroi, Anthony Segaert and Angus Thomson
JANUARY 17, 2023

In this Sydney suburb, one in three homes is empty. It’s not just a data error

There are 164,624 empty homes in Sydney, yet we have a five-figure waiting list for public housing. Solving our housing crisis, however, is not so simple, experts say.

www.watoday.com.au

 

[eZyT]

Ant, you have to understand what they mean by "works".

Does it work to reduce prices as a result of increased competition? Well, no, but that wasn't the intent.

The intent of privatisation is to shift the blame for any price rises and screw ups away from the government (hey, you can't blame us, we no longer run the power companies/public transport/airline/bank etc); and to line the pockets of their mates.

When you look at it from this perspective it works a treat.

DS

Privatisation means;

Govt takes all the risk, their mates take all the profit, and customers take all the *smile*.

 

[TT33]

Another other thing the pollies love to roll out is "Self Regulation" of various industries. This absolves them of any responsibility for overseeing or regulating the said industries.
As if that's going to work effectively.

 

[Baloo]

Libs getting a beating in NSW. There's some pretty major swings happening

 

[Redford]

Another big swing against Liberal conservative politics in Australia.

 

[Sintiger]

Another big swing against Liberal conservative politics in Australia.

Listening to many of them on the abc coverage they still don’t get it

 

[tigerman]

A 20% swing against the Libs in Gladys's old seat, they still might win it, would love to see them lose it though.

 

[Panthera Tigris]

Look at all those white supremacists

 

[spook]

View attachment 18570
Look at all those white supremacists

One Nation appeals to idiots of all colours.

Not a Liberal government left in the country. Things looking up.

 

[tigerman]

One Nation appeals to idiots of all colours.

Not a Liberal government left in the country. Things looking up.

We got a nation of true believers.

 

[Panthera Tigris]

One Nation appeals to idiots of all colours.

Just was an interesting shot and goes against popular perception.

As the vote continues to splinter - with the combined major parties’ vote trending downwards and will continue to do so - I suppose we will continue to see strange bedfellow political relationships evolve, that go against what we might intuitively expect. Often some interesting ironies in those alliances.