With the stock market this month resembling an Irish dancer’s feet (and you’re free to read into that metaphor what you will – bouncing up and down, getting toey or plain old stinks), the economy seemed an appropriate target for this OUTinPerth’s political columnists this month. Here is one member of Labor’s take on the economy…
John Howard is good. Kevin Rudd is bad. I’m going to take a little guess that’s what my fellow Liberal columnist’s take will be on who is best placed to managed the Australian economy. As we all know, it’s a pretty simplistic argument that ignores the current reality that many Australian households are facing.
Australian voters – straight and gay – are facing significant financial pressures every day, through rising costs which are hurting the household budget. And nowhere is that pain more apparent than in rising mortgage and rental costs. Setting good economic policy isn’t about delivering for the big end of town or crafting impressive statistics – but ensuring it translates into easing financial pressures for families.
And for the doubters, here’s a few facts about the real impacts of Johnnie’s ‘good’ times:
Fact #1: Since the last election, interest rates have increased 5 times. We all remember the Liberal’s advertising – and John Howard’s key promise to keep rates at record lows. Unfortunately for us, John Howard didn’t pull that one off. Since the last Federal election in 2004, there have been not one or two, but five interest rate increases. John Howard’s broken promise is really hurting many of us – and for those saving for their first home, pushing their dream of owning a home even further away.
Fact #2: John Howard says we’ve never been better off, but costs keep rising. John Howard keeps telling everyone who’ll listen, that we’ve never had it better. Yeah. That why’s household debt comes in at a staggering $1 trillion. Credit cards aren’t much better – at around $39 billion. Health and other medical costs have gone up, two times the rate of inflation during Johnnie’s years. And don’t let me get started on supermarket prices – like fruit and vegies which have increased by 35%.
I think you get the picture. As Kevin Rudd best describes the current situation, ‘It is clear that many families are finding it hard to match the government’s rhetoric on the economy with their reality.’
Fact #3: John Howard doesn’t have a plan for housing affordability. What is John Howard doing on housing affordability? It’s a good question, and unfortunately, there’s no real answers. But Kevin Rudd is different. (You knew the sell was coming.) He is actually rolling out a plan. But he didn’t just pretend to know all the solutions – instead he opted to hold a National Housing Affordability Summit to get everyone’s expertise on the crisis.
Now he’s offering concrete initiatives that will help Australians to buy a home. This includes establishing a Housing Affordability Fund to invest $500 million in housing linked infrastructure which could reduce the cost of a new home by up to $20,000.
He’s also revealed plans to ease the rental squeeze (I know all about that one), with a commitment to start a National Rental Affordability Scheme. Using taxing incentives and financial support, the plan will create 50,000 new affordable rental properties across Australia at 20% below market rents.
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Who are our mystery political columnists? Well, we can reveal… not much. They’re political insiders. Do we want them censored by their parties? Well frankly, no. Hence the anonymity. Passionate, queer party people all – they’re here to provoke thought, rant and rave and get us all in the mood for a bit of election biff.
