July 12, 2007
I see that housing (mortgage and rent) stress, which is defined as spending more than 30% of household income on housing costs households pay. The service burden is increasing despite lower interest rates, rising household incomes and a strong economy.

It is especially difficult for first home buyers in the entry level houses on the urban fringe. Less regulation by state governments and far more land release is the solution say the the "supply-siders", such as the Institute of Public Affairs and the Housing Industry Association, who are conducting a campaign for greater deregulation of land use.
But we also have the high price of established houses in the inner suburbs, which are increasing in demand. An increase in supply in outer areas is likely to have only a relatively small effect on prices for housing in preferred or desirable locations.
Julian Disney, who chairs a coalition on affordable housing from the housing industry, the ACTU and community groups, estimates there are more than 750,000 households paying more than 30 per cent of their income in mortgage payments and at least as many again who are “hidden victims”, forced to live in sub-standard housing often a long way from work and community facilities. Then there are those who don’t earn enough to break into the inflated market in the first place.
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It seems like the trend of the last ten years as to federalism continues.
The feds back off and starve funding to the states for infrastructure in favour of middle class welfare, cosmetic "surpluses" and other populist eccentric defence and bizarre social engineering experiments, including in exotic offshore places like East Timor, the NT and the Solomons.
The states struggle under the burden of of an economy based on exclusivism and Fed exceptionalism; expressed through apparatus like "competition policy". When the inevitable market or/and systemic failure(s) occurs the state governments become useful scapegoats for the feds and their media urgers, intent on protecting vested interests from high finance intent on maintaining their right to feed off the system.
But momentum for the states to improve their game dissipates, since they can easily blame the feds and "market forces" for lack of initiative. All they have to do is yield to local big finance to allow "Market Forces" to operate in their locale and they'll get media suport also.
Qangos etc are stacked with cronies of whichever political group is in federally or locally- and the result is gridlock, reinforced because desperate voters will not vote out incompetent state ALP governments for fear of untramelled Howardism and Howard is like wise entrenched, to counter act the ALP states
The end result is perfectly conforming to/of neo liberal ideology- Gridlock, immense wastage and the collapse of the social project.