Letter

In response to As the home ownership dream fades, Australians may be open to a frank conversation about house prices

Supporting the past, not the future!

Our fearful politicians, unwilling to challenge the distortion built into our housing system by the odious midget John Howard, that turned it into an investment rather than a place to live, continue to focus on the political safety of the demand side. That way they can avoid doing anything serious about the real issue,m which is the supply side.

To ensure younger Australians can never afford a home and therefore continue to put off marriage and children in the interests of rentiers, they fiddle endlessly with methods of boosting demand with the logical consequence of continuing growth in prices. That cycle simply repeats the stupidity created by Howard.

A government that was seriously concerned about fixing the problem would turn to the country that has dealt effectively with supply and ensured housing for everyone. The problem for our current lot of politicians is that to do so goes in the opposite direction to their attempt to frighten us all with the bogeyman of China, in order to keep us under control.

Invite China to bring its innovative modular housing to Australia; these units can be built fast, are of high quality and can be constructed at a reasonable cost. But it won’t happen.

— Les Macdonald from Balmain NSW 2041