Housing affordability has reached a crisis point in Australia. First-home buyers have been priced out of the market.
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Most housing loans are now being taken out by second- or third-home buyers. These are buyers taking advantage of a particular distortion in the tax system that allows investors to write off annual losses as a tax deduction against other income – ie "negative gearing".
This tax arrangement has huge adverse outcomes for the general community. Its attraction is based on speculative gains being made by people buying properties and is based on ever-increasing property prices. It is a distortion to the tax system that has increased demand for housing, thereby forcing up property prices much higher than they otherwise would be.
There are a number of impacts. House prices have become unaffordable for many Australians. Many parents are forced to draw on their scarce retirement savings to help fund their children's housing deposits. High mortgage payments are a drain on household budgets. For older people, higher house prices mean rising annual rates.
Also, a huge amount of the nation's capital – that otherwise would be available for more productive investment – is tied up in housing.
From a tax perspective, the government foregoes a huge amount of revenue that is desperately needed.
One can only hope the Abbott government in its review of the tax system this year will act responsibly and remove negative gearing as soon as possible.
Brian Brocklebank, Bruce
Research under attack
The Abbott government is threatening to cut research funding unless its higher education bill deregulating university fees is passed. The Group of Eight universities, which rely on research and good academics to keep their world rankings up, are angry.
Education earns Australia around $14.4billion per year for our GDP and we are putting it in danger by ruining our reputation for research and, thus, our world rankings. Not only that, but science research is vital for the Australian economy. Two-thirds of Australia's economic growth came from technology and science from the 1960s to 2005.
And yet the government cut enough funding that scientists were laid off at the CSIRO this year. If funding is cut from research at universities, our education will not be as sought after on an international stage and we will be exporting all our domestic students and researchers.
The current government's tactic of cutting research funding is forcing Australia backwards and our research jobs will be outsourced to Europe and China.
Jazmin Hawes, Braddon
Flats attractive
I may be in the minority, but I find the Northbourne Avenue flats (subject of recent debate) both appealing and attractive. Two or three storeys high, these buildings sit comfortably on a generous allowance of open space, planted with lawn, often bordered by shrubs or trees. They are on a human scale, a reminder of a smaller, simpler Canberra.
When I look at them, I give thanks for their unobtrusive, yet efficient use of the land for residential purposes. If they were well maintained, they would be highly desirable properties in today's market. I dread to think of the multistorey people-housers surrounded by miniscule open space which will inevitably replace them, should they be demolished.
Eileen Boyldew, Florey
Planning failure
The University of Canberra opened an excellent health hub at the corner of Ginninderra Drive and Allawoona Street in March 2014. I have used this facility and can vouch for its excellence and efficiency.
It is, however, suffering from the usual lack of any foresighted planning by the ACT government. Although only 400 metres from this facility, the community of some 400 people living on Joy Cummings Place, either in the Kangara Waters or the Lakes Estate, have absolutely no means of accessing the facility by walking or mobility scooter. There is no footpath from the Joy Cummings/Aikman Drive intersection to the health hub.
Will the ACT government please take urgent action to rectify this matter?
Murray Upton, Belconnen
Buy Australian-made
In the article "Public service paper trail costs millions" (March 7, p8) Coalition backbencher David Gillespie called on public servants to buy Australian-made paper instead of from Indonesia or Europe just because there is a 5per cent cost saving when doing so. His views should be supported.
Overseas purchases are a drain on our economy, because the company that wins the contract or makes the sale pays no tax in Australia and no local expenditure is incurred for wages, equipment, general purchases and capital equipment.
Most importantly, there is no multiplier effect because no new demand is created locally that would lead to more spending and create more jobs and more income.
Local manufacturing provides benefits to all areas of the economy through increased expenditure and provides additional revenue to the government. The multiplier can be a factor of say 1.2 or even four or five times the initial expenditure as it works its way through the economy. A $300million subsidy to the motor vehicle industry, as well as maintaining heavy-duty strategic capacity in case of conflict, would have a multiplier effect on the economy with consequent benefits all round.
When government does not provide subsidies to industry in a mixed economy to increase productivity and wealth, the national interest suffers.
Les Brennan, Sunshine Bay, NSW
A no-brainer
Mark Raymond (Letters, March 6) claims that 75per cent of vehicles crossing the ACT border start their journey at Yass, the start of the Barton Highway. I would wager that the vast majority of these vehicles actually originate south of Gundagai (eg, all traffic from Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, etc). It is, therefore, highly likely that if the road through Piccadilly Circus or Adaminaby were to be upgraded, around half the current traffic volume of the Barton Highway would be transferred to that road. Can you imagine the productivity benefits and fuel savings of reducing each of roughly 6000 journeys by 70 to 80kilometres? Taking 6000 vehicles off the Barton would make the need for its upgrade redundant and its funding can be transferred to upgrade the western road. Seems a no-brainer.
John Collet, Redlynch, Qld
Clever French city has seen the light
I must disagree with Max Kwiatkowski (Letters, March 1). There are small European cities which are opening new light rail lines.
On a recent trip to France, I visited Reims, which has a population about half the size of Canberra. In 2011, it opened an 11-kilometre light rail line. It's brand new and not part of an old network. It even lacks an overhead wire – electric current is delivered through a computerised third rail embedded in the roadways and pedestrian plazas, which is "live" only when a tram actually passes over it.
The city administration has cleverly made the trams a local icon: they have champagne-glass shaped cabs and a designer palette, which gives every tram a different colour scheme. I'm surprised that Capital Metro apparently didn't know about this line when quizzed by Mr Kwiatkowski. They certainly did when, after my trip, I sent them my observations of Reims — and asked whether this third-rail system would be used here.
Reims, like Canberra, is a tourist city. It took a leap of imagination to create their line, which, with its well-designed stops, is heavily patronised.
I am sure the same will prove true for Canberra if we, too, are allowed to imagine.
Ray Edmondson, Kambah
Left with sour taste
Well, we've had another delicious summer fruit season, haven't we?
Plums, peaches, nectarines, etc, all picked way too soon, so that they either don't ripen at all or go bad in the bowl. Either way, they never taste like they should do (and once upon a time, did).
In fact you could mount a case for them never having been fruit in the place, if fruit is something that is soft, juicy, tasty and appealing. Why even buy the rubbish?
C. Gilbert, Giralang
Those craving clear purpose must have heroes to emulate
Perhaps it is time for us to remember that most of us, at some point in our lives, have craved a purity of purpose. It is then that we have needed options for the passionate pursuit of an inspiring idea.
In a world where commitment to such ideas is becoming less "cool", we should not be surprised at the tragic loss of Jake Bilardi. No amount of "filtering" will deter such bright young citizens, unless we offer them other risky, but more worthwhile, paths. A focus on some aspect of world peace, art, religion, the environment or science can be equally intoxicating but, these days, the martyrs to such causes are less celebrated in our public spaces.
We need to cherish the stories of these other martyrs. Young adults will want to take risks, but let us open them up to the full range of heroes whom they can emulate. Our world needs their energy and impulse to change for the better.
As Richard Denniss reminded us in his Manning Clark lecture recently, Australian history can be seen as comprising both "enlargers" and "punishers". Punishing the Islamic State impulse will probably be less effective than enlarging the options for those who crave a purity of purpose.
Jill Sutton, Watson
Swinging back
To get elected, politicians need to secure the backing of a substantial proportion of swinging voters. At the 2013 election, Tony Abbott was very successful in this and achieved a thumping victory.
I suspect many of the swinging voters who may have been turned off by Mr Abbott's aggressive style were willing to give him some brownie points for his voluntary work as a lifesaver, firefighter, and support worker for Indigenous Australians in remote areas.
I suspect the PM's "lifestyle choice" statement ("'Lifestyle choice': Tony Abbott stands by controversial comments despite Indigenous leader backlash", canberratimes.com.au, March 11), whilst applauded by some rednecks, will turn off many uncommitted voters.
Some of the backbenchers who, a few weeks ago, were prepared to give Tony some time to clean up his act must be regretting that decision.
Mike Reddy, Lyons
Ties to land waning
The Western Australia government's move to close non-viable communities has been greeted with claims that Aborigines are so attached to the areas of their birth that relocation causes unconscionable trauma. That this was once true is unarguable. It is still true in the case of older Aborigines. There are, however, indications that it is no longer universally true.
There is a town in a remote part of WA that became the social and economic hub for a number of communities. Every day, the streets would be thronged with people chatting and shopping, while in the parks, groups of people would sit in the shade, enjoying one another's company. Then, to counter widespread drunkenness, the consumption of full-strength beer in public, or on private premises, was banned. People could drink full-strength beer on licensed premises, but only light beer could be taken away. Almost overnight, the streets and parks became deserted. Shops and other businesses closed because of lack of customers. The cause? Large groups of locals moved to other towns, hundreds of kilometres outside their traditional boundaries, where they could obtain full-strength beer on a takeaway basis.
If booze was the trigger for this exodus, then this is a tragic outcome. If, however, the move was a hostile reaction to the restriction that had been placed on their freedom of choice, then this shows spirit which, if properly directed, could lead to positive results.
Whatever the cause of the exodus, it is clear that it was powerful enough to overcome a sense of belonging to their ancestral homelands. This sense of belonging can no longer be used as an excuse for inertia.
F. Lamb, Lyons
Gaza death toll
Where did Bill Arnold (Letters, March 11 ) get his information that most of the deaths in Israel's 2014 attack on Gaza were of Hamas operatives?
Of 2151 Palestinians killed, there were at least 577 children, 263 women, 102 elderly, 17 journalists and 23 doctors and paramedics – none of these could be called Hamas operatives. Over 11,230 people were injured – at least 3374 children, 2088 women, 410 elderly and 83 doctors and paramedics. In addition, 70 Israelis were killed, 67 of them soldiers.
In addition, Israel deliberately destroyed most of the economic and civilian infrastructure of Gaza, including schools, mosques, churches, farms, factories, the main electricity plant, sewage treatment plants and the water supplies, affecting the entire 1.8million Palestinians of Gaza.
Bill Arnold thinks this is a just response to Palestinian rockets. Since 2001, Palestine has launched thousands of rockets into southern Israel. In 14 years, 50 people have been killed and about 1900 injured. The launching of rockets is a crime, but so is the disproportionate response from Israel, condemned by the United Nations.
Gwenyth Bray, Belconnen
Ignorance or self-interest? Ross Gittins ("Pseudo solutions on housing", Times2, March 11, p4) clearly explains how allowing people to access their super to buy a house, will not only not work, but will increase the price of housing for young people. He has been supported in this view by a range of experts from around the country.
The question is whether Joe Hockey is a totally incompetent Treasurer who just does not understand economics, in which case he should be sacked, or whether he is a politician who is merely trying to gain voter support in his own self-interest and to the detriment of first-home buyers around the country. If so, he should be sacked. Either way, Joe Hockey should go. Surely, the federal government has some standards?
Patrick O'Hara, Isaacs
TO THE POINT
TARGET OTHERS' PERKS
Tony Abbott wants to reduce subsidies for people's lifestyle choices. Wouldn't he save much more by defunding the entire population of Tasmania?
Paul Mason, McKellar
Does the Prime Minister's view that "we can't endlessly subsidise lifestyle choices" extend to our politicians, with their perks and pensions?
Tom Lindsay, Monash
Will we shortly see the removal of the tax concessions given to that Sunday-morning lifestyle choice, the churches?
Roy Bray, Flynn
When did developing/exploiting the land become more important than people and the land itself? And whyare our needs so much more important than the original people who cared for this country in the previous 40,000-plus years?
Does Tony Abbott ever walk insomeone else's shoes?
Sandra von Sneidern, Mongarlowe, NSW
PMS ACCIDENT-PRONE
What has the Australian electorate done to deserve two accident-prone PMs in a row? Or is it three, if you count Kevin Rudd?
Graham Brady, Hughes
WHO'S NEXT?
After Joko Widodo, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?
Tom Middlemiss, Deakin
RESPONSE AWAITED
Can I thank all those people who, during January, signed a petition at the Kambah Woolshed seeking the reopening of the toilets there, and inform them that the petition was sent to Territories and Municipal Services Minister Shane Rattenbury at the beginning of February. There has been no acknowledgment or response from the minister so far.
Ed Highley, Kambah
UN HYPOCRITICAL
Yes, I am sick of being lectured to by the United Nations, Ray Edmondson (Letters, March 13), because, as any check of membership of its human rights committees will show, there are too many countries represented of the "Do as I say, rather than as I do" hypocritical persuasion.
Greg Cornwell, Yarralumla
WASTE OF MONEY
Shame on our politicians, media and community for spending so much energy, money and time on the plight of two convicted drug smugglers. Surely, this would be better used toalleviate the sufferings of the thousands of Australian families afflicted with domestic violence.
Mary Lou Lyon, Chapman
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