The Albanese government

[Smurf1976]

Well they are about to cut back immigration, next put a surcharge on overseas property buyers, then a splash of cash and it's election time.

One issue I foresee for Labor is trust.

Arguments for or against the Voice aside, last election essentially was a bait and switch. An issue that was buried deep during the campaign, to the point many were simply unaware of it even being a thing, became overwhelmingly dominant literally the moment Labor claimed victory.

Other governments of both persuasions have certainly mislead the public but I don't recall anyone, from either party, doing it so rapidly and dramatically.

I foresee Labor being on the backfoot over that for quite some time.

 

[Knobby22]

They've already got things in place to catch out B&B owners and people claiming tax deductions by strategically avoiding rental occupation. If you have a vacant rental with high rent and it's not within the median rent of the area the tax department swoops on you, they also have dob- in lines.

It's fairly common for Chinese to buy houses and leave them vacant and let the house get rundown. I had one next door to my rental, their trees and shrubs grew over my yard and onto my house, the smoke alarms beeped non-stop until the backup batteries went flat, and the weeds and grass grew higher than the house until it became a neighborhood collaboration to spend a few days cleaning the place up.

In Docklands Melbourne where many of the new apartments were bought by the Chinese, the place is dead, at least half the apartments appear empty.
Also lots of land banking going on and Australian farmland being bought and then poorly run.

We have to get on top of this.
Singapore allows foreigners to buy but they tax the bejuses out of them. We have to stop being dumb.

 

[farmerge]

One issue I foresee for Labor is trust.

Arguments for or against the Voice aside, last election essentially was a bait and switch. An issue that was buried deep during the campaign, to the point many were simply unaware of it even being a thing, became overwhelmingly dominant literally the moment Labor claimed victory.

Other governments of both persuasions have certainly mislead the public but I don't recall anyone, from either party, doing it so rapidly and dramatically.

I foresee Labor being on the backfoot over that for quite some time.

Going to need new heels for their footwear backpeddling that fast it will them out.

 

[farmerge]

In Docklands Melbourne where many of the new apartments were bought by the Chinese, the place is dead, at least half the apartments appear empty.
Also lots of land banking going on and Australian farmland being bought and then poorly run.

We have to get on top of this.
Singapore allows foreigners to buy but they tax the bejuses out of them. We have to stop being dumb.

I have a thing about foreign nationals owning land, buildings, shipping ports air ports etc. Next we will become serfs in our own country, jumping to the tune of the red flag.

 

[TimeISmoney]

I have a thing about foreign nationals owning land, buildings, shipping ports air ports etc. Next we will become serfs in our own country, jumping to the tune of the red flag.

They do have restrictions on foreign ownership here but they get around it by using nationalist proxies that have Australian citisenship, some 20 year old waiter on 40k a year has 3 homes under their name.

 

[mullokintyre]

The idea of who owns what in Australia is always an interesting excersise.
As far as residential land goes, according to the AFR, less than 1% of sales went to overseas buyers in 2021.
Its difficult to get a handle on whether this has gone up, stayed the same or dropped since these figures were realeased, but althoiugh some inner city dwellings in Melbourne and Sydney get a lot of publicty, the actual figures were quite low nationally.

In 2021-21, there were 588,176 sales of residential dwellings in Australia, of which just 4355 were to overseas buyers.

The figure equates to about 0.75 per cent of total sales.

Its true that China interests account for nearly 50% of the foreign ownership, it is still a small fraction of the total houselds.

As far as broadacre land goes, there are some interesting results and distinctions.
According to Foreign Ownership of Agriculural land , over 80% of the ownership interest in Ag land is via a leasehold, only 20% is free hold land, mostly held in Victoria, NSW and Tassy.

And I doubt anyone would have come up with Netherlands as the largest holder of land assets.

So in many cases, the fears of land being sold off to the Chinese are unfounded.
mick

 

[Smurf1976]

So in many cases, the fears of land being sold off to the Chinese are unfounded.

I think the big concern is about land that's particularly important.

Land that would be unremarkable if not for the port, power station, water treatment plant or whatever other critical infrastructure is sitting on it.

To what extent should someone in Hong Kong or France have control over critical infrastructure in Australia?

 

[TimeISmoney]

The idea of who owns what in Australia is always an interesting excersise.
As far as residential land goes, according to the AFR, less than 1% of sales went to overseas buyers in 2021.
Its difficult to get a handle on whether this has gone up, stayed the same or dropped since these figures were realeased, but althoiugh some inner city dwellings in Melbourne and Sydney get a lot of publicty, the actual figures were quite low nationally.

Its true that China interests account for nearly 50% of the foreign ownership, it is still a small fraction of the total houselds.
View attachment 167007

As far as broadacre land goes, there are some interesting results and distinctions.
According to Foreign Ownership of Agriculural land , over 80% of the ownership interest in Ag land is via a leasehold, only 20% is free hold land, mostly held in Victoria, NSW and Tassy.
View attachment 167006
And I doubt anyone would have come up with Netherlands as the largest holder of land assets.
View attachment 167009

So in many cases, the fears of land being sold off to the Chinese are unfounded.
mick

There's no way of gauging what I said previously about proxy buyers and it was told to me by a loans officer of a well known company.

Chinese nationals 'illegally' buying luxury Australian real estate are forcing prices up by 30 per cent, leading agent claims

 

[farmerge]

The idea of who owns what in Australia is always an interesting excersise.
As far as residential land goes, according to the AFR, less than 1% of sales went to overseas buyers in 2021.
Its difficult to get a handle on whether this has gone up, stayed the same or dropped since these figures were realeased, but althoiugh some inner city dwellings in Melbourne and Sydney get a lot of publicty, the actual figures were quite low nationally.

Its true that China interests account for nearly 50% of the foreign ownership, it is still a small fraction of the total houselds.
View attachment 167007

As far as broadacre land goes, there are some interesting results and distinctions.
According to Foreign Ownership of Agriculural land , over 80% of the ownership interest in Ag land is via a leasehold, only 20% is free hold land, mostly held in Victoria, NSW and Tassy.
View attachment 167006
And I doubt anyone would have come up with Netherlands as the largest holder of land assets.
View attachment 167009

So in many cases, the fears of land being sold off to the Chinese are unfounded.
mick

No matter what the percentages are I don't agree that foreign ownership should be allowed.

 

[farmerge]

I think the big concern is about land that's particularly important.

Land that would be unremarkable if not for the port, power station, water treatment plant or whatever other critical infrastructure is sitting on it.

To what extent should someone in Hong Kong or France have control over critical infrastructure in Australia?

I went to a neighbours property last saturday with a load of fencing materials for him.
His farm is about 30k south east of merredin.
On the road out of Merredin is the local airport.
Just a mid sized country one.
Guess who owns it.
The Chinese.
Now why would they want an airfield in the middle of nowhere????

 

[Sean K]

Surely planning to blow up the G is a life sentence? 15 years?

If he has to be let out he must eligible to be sent back to the shithole he came from.

Or, maybe he can stay at Dreyfus' house under supervision.

Abdul Nacer Benbrika – one of Australia’s most notorious terrorists who plotted to bomb the MCG – is set to be released into the community within two weeks as a result of federal government bungling.

The Victorian Supreme Court is due to rule imminently on what restrictions he will face amid fears the public will be put at risk.

But, after a series of blunders by successive governments, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has confirmed there are no ongoing moves to keep the dangerous terrorist locked up.

It comes amid a major backlash against the Albanese Government over the release of 148 criminal refugees from detention – including rapists, murderers and drug traffickers – leading to six being rearrested within weeks for fresh offences and breaches of their conditions.

The radical Muslim cleric’s 15-year prison term for leading a terror cell conspiring to attack the MCG and Crown casino in Melbourne, and Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney ended in 2020.

Benbrika was then put on a “continuing detention order”, which is due to expire on December 23, when it reaches its three-year maximum.

 

[mullokintyre]

I went to a neighbours property last saturday with a load of fencing materials for him.
His farm is about 30k south east of merredin.
On the road out of Merredin is the local airport.
Just a mid sized country one.
Guess who owns it.
The Chinese.
Now why would they want an airfield in the middle of nowhere????

Merredin Airport lease , as distinct from freehold ownership, was bought by the Chinese airline, China Southern, to establish an airline cadet training program back in the mid 90's. The lease was for a 100 years, with the proviso that China Southern did major infarstructure upgrades. Both runways and taxiways and parking areas were all re sealed . (I know cos I flew into Merredin not long after it reopened to have a look).

Part of the lease agreement was that it remain open to the GA public, RFDS, SES, Police etc.
The concept of private General Aviation was (and to a large extent still is) non existent.
Australian training standards were seen to be among the better ones worldwide, with plenty of young instructors to train the Chinese pilots.
It was close enough to a n International Airport to get the students in and out, and whats most important, the great weather and lack of high terrain made it an ideal place y train ab inito pilots.
CASA effectively closed them down because they could not staff it with "approved personell", and finally, with the onset of COVID shutting everything down, in dDcember 2020 the airline academy went into receivership.
China Southern put it up for sale in 2021, but I don't know what happened to the ownership of the lease of the airport, it would have been one of the assets sold off by the receivers.
Mick

 

[SirRumpole]

Surely planning to blow up the G is a life sentence? 15 years?

If he has to be let out he must eligible to be sent back to the shithole he came from.

Or, maybe he can stay at Dreyfus' house under supervision.

View attachment 167018

Abdul Nacer Benbrika – one of Australia’s most notorious terrorists who plotted to bomb the MCG – is set to be released into the community within two weeks as a result of federal government bungling.

The Victorian Supreme Court is due to rule imminently on what restrictions he will face amid fears the public will be put at risk.

But, after a series of blunders by successive governments, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has confirmed there are no ongoing moves to keep the dangerous terrorist locked up.

It comes amid a major backlash against the Albanese Government over the release of 148 criminal refugees from detention – including rapists, murderers and drug traffickers – leading to six being rearrested within weeks for fresh offences and breaches of their conditions.

The radical Muslim cleric’s 15-year prison term for leading a terror cell conspiring to attack the MCG and Crown casino in Melbourne, and Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney ended in 2020.

Benbrika was then put on a “continuing detention order”, which is due to expire on December 23, when it reaches its three-year maximum.

"In the event of his release, he could face indefinite immigration detention if his home country of Algeria is unprepared to take him back."

If he is a foreign national then his home country has the responsibility of taking him back.

 

[farmerge]

"In the event of his release, he could face indefinite immigration detention if his home country of Algeria is unprepared to take him back."

If he is a foreign national then his home country has the responsibility of taking him back.

Should be but probably unlikely.

 

[IFocus]

Abdul Nacer Benbrika

Hmm Australian citizen

"On 1 November 2023, Benbrika won his High Court bid to restore his Australian citizenship, which was cancelled in 2020."

A real piece of work and a problem for the justice system he has worked it all well as some do.

 

[sptrawler]

The Govt has pressed the Big Red Button, they have announced restrictions on overseas investors, restrictions on immigration and reductions in spending to put downward pressure on inflation.
Talking to my son on the weekend in Kambalda, who works in probably the strongest Labor seat in Australia, they're looking like toast.
Which is pretty amazing, but it is common knowledge that the Australian dream is owning a house, the only ones who had that dream, feel like they have lost it.
So time will tell if they can backfill the hole, but it has become so huge and to pour stimulus money into it just makes it bigger, the bubble becomes unmanageable.
We either pop it, or we just let Australia become like most other countries we hate, where there is huge social inequality.
I wonder why we had a referendum at all, how can we vote to give those most disadvantaged a voice, while we send everyone else there?
Why go to work, when everything you aspire to gets moved further away and your voice becomes more distant, yet everyone else's voice becomes louder.
That is what the workers are thinking, deep $hit in little Canberra IMO.
It will be interesting to watch the plan, because there is obviously a plan.

 

[orr]

To para phrase Oscar Wilde: 'Lady Augusta Bracknell'.

'to have one budget surplus could be seen as unfortunate (for the oppostion LNP). But too have two! that could be seen as something resembling almost competent government'


(it's a literary reference so inaccessible to many posters here... apologies)

 

[sptrawler]

To para phrase Oscar Wilde: 'Lady Augusta Bracknell'.

'to have one budget surplus could be seen as unfortunate (for the oppostion LNP). But too have two! that could be seen as something resembling almost competent government'


(it's a literary reference so inaccessible to many posters here... apologies)

As I've said, they are inflating away the debt, whether they can unwind the anger before the election remains to be seen.
It is a long way off so they are getting an early start, which is a good plan.
Kudos to them if they pull it off.

 

[orr]

As I've said, they are inflating away the debt, whether they can unwind the anger before the election remains to be seen.
It is a long way off so they are getting an early start, which is a good plan.
Kudos to them if they pull it off.

To give creedence to ' they are infating the debt away' you would have to break down in what currency the debt is owed and on the terms. feel free to enlighten me.

Government borrowing, surplus or deficit can onlty be assessed through a lens of competent policy.
i.e. Not the structural deficts left by the Howard Government .... the beauty to the irony of those though is that they bit abbott, turnbull and morrison on ar$e.

Good policy at this point in time would be finessing Australian Industry policy to get best advantage from the consiquences of the US's Inflation Reduction Act....
At this point , 14 months on, I'm still waiting.

 

[sptrawler]

To give creedence to ' they are infating the debt away' you would have to break down in what currency the debt is owed and on the terms. feel free to enlighten me.

I'll make it easier, firstly house prices have rocketed with immigration and inflation, so if you have got that down pat, I will put the rest in pictures.

By the way as I've said they are doing a good job, it is just as normal the middle class worker is getting screwed, nothing much changes, just the jockey.

The great thing about Labor is they can get away with sorting out the NDIS and the rest of the scammers, if the other side were in it would be a case of attacking those most needy, so as I said last election we need two terms of labor to sort $hit out.

They are sorting out the NDIS, they are also sorting out the piss poor education system they put in place 10 years ago, the down side is the blue collar worker gets screwed over yet again.

But hey that's life, as I said nothing changes but the jockey and the media saying nothing.

I'll vote for them again for sure, they are getting stuff done that needed doing, what's not to like if you aren't renting or saving for a house.
The renewable ideal needs sorting one way or another Labor are fast tracking it, so it will be $hit or burst, which really is the best way to sort ideology out, it works or it doesn't get on with it.

If you can't understand the graphs, don't hesitate to ask for enlightenment, hint between 2013 and 2020 things are pretty boring.
Income meandering along, income tax tracking wage growth and disposable income, income tax and mortgage interest dropping as a percentage of disposable income, boring $hit.