Good idea? Or not? Both stories seem a good idea to me.
From the newspaper: ( ) = my words
"Rent Freeze
"If the government had half a brain they'd put a freeze on rent increases for the next five years. Less than 1 percent of people are investors, about 30 percent are renters, so it's a no-brainer vote winner.
(some of) The investors would sell, making a tidy profit, placing hundreds if not thousands of houses and units on the market. Let's see if there are nerves of steel in the government or as expected, just pussies."
Dennis Agostini, St Morris
next story:
"Big Picture Project"
"North Queensland is flooding again, South Australia and parts of south eastern Australia are in drought again.
South Australia is not good at collecting rainwater and our population has probably doubled since a new reservoir was built.
Where will the extra water come from in the next five, 10 or 50 years as our population continues to grow and climate change affects the reliable supply of water.
Perhaps it's time for a national big picture project instead of spending billions of dollars on nuclear power plants and nuclear submarines.
There are alternative ways of generating more electricity, but not water, other than hoping that the average rainfall increases in southern Australia.
Perhaps a pipeline/s could be built from North Queensland to the southern states so that households, industry and agriculture could have a more reliable source of water. South Australia cannot continue to rely on the River Murray. It's time for a big picture project to provide water for the southern states other thanlocal unreliable rainfall.
Terry Sachse, Tanunda
(nice that other people think like me)
Lack of water is the biggest concern facing humans - climate change is going to shake a lot of life off of the planet.
ReplyDeleteLinda Sue; true, lack of water is a HUGE concern, yet governments for years have ignored obvious solutions.
DeleteIf these are wise ideas (and they sound wise to me), I hope someone listens.
ReplyDeletemessymimi; I also hope someone listens and hope someone does something.
DeleteWhose priorities do we worry about? If the billions of dollars spent on nuclear power plants and nuclear submarines went instead to subsidised government housing, then recent university graduates and recent migrants could live decently. One bedroom and one living room cabins are perfectly suitable for couples before they have children, without forcing them to go into huge debts.
ReplyDeleteHels; you make a good point, but new builds, even for subsidised housing will take time, while already built housing will be quicker. Of course there is always the elephant in the room of subsidised housing sitting empty sometimes for decades, because it needs repair and no one will spend any money for that. Housing went downhill when governments privatised the SA Housing Trust and the same in other states. Then of course all these people also have a need for water, for themselves and maybe to grow a few of their own vegetables.
DeleteThe ever same problems are but shifted from a to b and back, it seems. As long as the rich people have a good living, why care about the big picture.
ReplyDeleteAnd some do try. But are too dumb. "We" were promised many, many new living spaces, but, uuuups, "suddenly" the money is eaten up.
I hope your leaders wake up and DO something to SOLVE the problem... But, no. Let´s put the money into project Mars, that´s "cooler".
Iris; exactly, "they" don't care about the big picture as long as they have everything they want.
Delete"And some do try", but then come up against the huge walls of "red tape" and excuses held by governments.
A not so Merry go Round... but I wonder why not many, many, many people stand up for a better future...
DeleteThere is plenty of water in the Kununurra area, Lake Argyle that could be piped down south, perhaps it's the cost, I don't know why it hasn't been done. Water was and is piped from Perth to Kalgoorlie.
ReplyDeleteHousing, big problem too. Good idea to freeze the rent, the landlords don't repair or fix anything now, would be even worse if the landlords didn't sell their houses.
Margaret D; it hasn't been done because it is "just for the people". Water was piped to Kalgoorlie because there was gold mining there and many bigwigs got rich.
DeleteRent freezing does seem like a really good start and if some landlords sell because of it, then houses will be available. But then selling/buying prices are way too high also.
My daughter has a good landlord, hasn't raised her rent to unaffordable levels and takes care of repairs when necessary. If only there were more like him.
The first letter is nonsense, however, as my state government has done, tax property investors more heavily, let them whine away and say they have to sell because it is not worth keeping their investment property, and let them sell, which may be affordable to first home buyers. Whatever, someone is going to live there. The extra tax collected can go towards public housing.
ReplyDeleteI remember a few years ago when you suggested the transfer of water from the very wet northern Queensland south to drier areas. I remember looking at the idea but there were some problems. Pumping water if it didn't naturally flow by siphon effect would be energy intensive. Most states now have desalination plants, which might be a better use of energy, rather than pumping water.
I'm done. I don't like thinking and my brain is hurting.
Andrew; my brain hurts too when I wonder why things can't get done that would benefit everyone. Pumping water would be energy intensive, but isn't that better than allowing all that water to be wasted when it could irrigate all the lower states who need it?
DeleteRenting in UK is insanely expensive.
ReplyDeleteEven with our rainy weather, there are areas where water becomes scarce, so in a huge country like Australia the problem must seem insurmountable.
I don't think looking at problems in an 'either or' way is helpful. Through space exploration, for example, we learn about climate change.
jabblog; either/or probably isn't the best wat to look at things, but who can come up with a "bot" solution? No one wants to think that through I guess, and there are probably too many variables. The space exploration is helpful with learning things like climate change.
DeleteThe simple - but not neccessarily cheap - solutions are often scorned by the powers that be.
ReplyDeleteCharlotte; it's all too expensive, too time consuming, too hard and so on.
DeleteBoth seem good ideas to me...but what would we "simple" folk know. Some lessons, too many, are difficult for governments to learn.
ReplyDelete