Governor-General personally lobbied Scott Morrison about leadership program given $18m in funding - ABC News: The Governor-General David Hurley personally lobbied Prime Minister Scott Morrison about a leadership program that was later allocated more than $18 million in federal funding. Last week's budget included the money for the Australian Future Leaders Foundation Limited, which claimed to have the support of an impressive list of business leaders, was only registered as a charity in April 2021 and is yet to run any leadership programs. In case there was any doubt that the Governor General is a Liberal stooge.
The City of Sydney Has Revealed Plans for Three New Public Squares: The plan for Circular Quay suggests removing the Cahill Expressway, creating an openair civic space in front of Customs House, while the vision for Town Hall features a far-reaching green space linking Hyde Park, Sydney Square and Town Hall Station. Unlikely to actually happen but getting rid of the Cahill Expressway is a lovely thought.
To make housing affordable, property prices need to fall, hurting many Australians with big debts - ABC News: in recent weeks, both major parties have been campaigning heavily on making housing affordable, but their policies – focused on grants or equity schemes that help younger and lower-income Australians get into the housing market – may, in fact, do the reverse... Since the 1990s, house prices have risen from 2.5 times annual household income, to more than six times today. The reason most policy changes get rejected is that it would heavily impact over-extended investors. As long as that is considered a problem, nothing much will change. It should not be considered problem, though - it boils down to investors treating a positive return as some kind of right, rather than understanding they took on risk when they bought property they couldn't really afford without tax breaks.