The following opinion piece was written by Gareth Hutchens and published in the ABC on Sunday 31st March, 2024. It is reproduced here with permission. This piece of writing was part of a 3-part series, awarded the 2024 E.J. Craigie Writing Award.
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Victoria’s Housing Statement – A promising start, the details will determine success
Victoria’s new Housing Partnership shows a lot of promise. The devil will be in the detail. Prosper Australia unpacks the issues.
In Australia, why do people who produce nothing get rewarded the most? – Waleed Aly
If we’re going to have to rethink our tax system, rent-seeking seems a good place to start. Perhaps if we taxed productive profit less than its unproductive counterpart, we’d have the seedlings of a system better designed to meet what the Intergenerational Report warns us is coming.
The 2022 EJ Craigie Award Winner
Prosper’s outgoing Director of Advocacy, Karl Fitzgerald, picked up the EJ Craigie Award for best Georgist writing at the 2022 Henry George Dinner and Address. His opinion piece “Forget red or green tape, developers squeeze housing supply with gold tape” appeared in...
Queensland Land Tax reversal a win for property industry spin
Director of Research Danny Spring, Policy Coordinator Jesse Hermans The Queensland government has backed down on nation-leading land tax reform after backlash from other states and an opposing media campaign waged by big property. The tax reform was modest, impacting...
Transformative housing policy
A version of this article was first published in the Sydney Morning Herald If you believe that our growing rate of homelessness is a national shame, or you're worried that your kids will never become homeowners (or worse, never move out), then we are sorry to tell...
Falinski’s Free Pass to the Property Industry
Cross-posted from The New Daily: It’s not surprising that a Senate report on housing affordability chaired by a former property developer gives a free pass to the property industry. Liberal MP and committee chair Jason Falinski’s view that developers should be given...
Is government responsible for 38% of the cost of housing?
Cross-posted from the Fith Estate. The confrontation over Victoria’s Social and Affordable Housing Levy may have been short lived when the proposed levy was quickly dropped after conniptions by the property lobby, but the shibboleth that property taxes represent a...
Added and “unadded” value in the Australian economy
Australia’s economy is dominated by sectors which derive significant revenue from “economic rents” – or unearned income.
Is there really a housing supply crisis?
Housing supply is often touted as the one and only solution to unaffordable housing. It is a favourite topic of both the development industry and many government inquiries (including the current Inquiry Into Housing Affordability and Supply).