Midnight Wednesday, the Queensland Parliament amended the Local Government Act and the City of Brisbane Act to legalise the theft of around $2.3 billion in differential rates charged by 20 councils on non-resident owners over the last twenty years.…
The continual reinforcement that new infrastructure can only financed by privatising the last remaining public assets is worth challenging. According to Infrastructure Australia and Joe Hockey, a fire sale here or there is all that is required for a mere…
As we build up for another year of inspiring conversation at the Earthsharing stall at the Sustainable Living Festival (Feb 14 – 16), put this presentation in your calender: PERMA-NOMICS CAN THE 12 PRINCIPLES OF PERMACULTURE BE PARAPHRASED INTO A…
The new Liberal Federal government has boldly declared themselves the ‘infrastructure government’. This infers they have a method to finance the backlog of infrastructure demanded. Tapping superannuation as the source of cheap finance has been the proposed path forward. We…
The Herald Sun reports research by PRD Nationwide showing that on average, across all Melbourne suburbs, the presence of a railway station in a suburb adds about $48,000 to the value of the median “house” in the suburb. This average rises…
The call for infrastructure spending to lift Australia’s productivity and efficiency widens and deepens every day. Around us, economic activity continues to weaken, particularly in construction. The call to spend big will soon be irresistible. The needs list is very…
The education of the public via mainstream media continues to grow with Jessica Irvine writing in the Herald Sun today: “State governments do apply some land taxes, particularly on investment properties. But a major recommendation of the Henry review was…
Letter to the Editor The Age 24/07/2012 Using the uplift in private land values to fund infrastructure projects (Doncaster railway line ‘could be built for $840m) is one of the recommendations of the Ken Henry review of taxes that was…
photo credit: julkastro Britain looks westward for tips on tarting up its towns As published in The Economist ACRES of flourishing weeds adorn derelict docks and warehouses on Edinburgh’s northern shoreline by the river Forth. Two years ago city planners…
Wednesday’s release of the much anticipated Eddington report has seen many questions asked on the viability of the road tunnel. Analysis of the cost-benefits report show that whilst the rail tunnel will return 1.20 for every dollar spent, the road…