HOME IS NOWHERE
Rents are up 35% since 2020, according to the government’s expert council, Guardian Australia reports. The National Housing Supply and Affordability Council found a “significant shortfall in supply”, low social and affordable housing, migration “at pace”, and a tax system that favours those who can afford homes are all making our housing crisis worse. Chair Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz put it bluntly: “Prices and rents are growing faster than wages, rental vacancies are near all-time lows, 169,000 households are on public housing waiting lists, 122,000 people are experiencing homelessness and projected housing supply is very low.” Some quick numbers: only 172,000 homes were built in 2023, the lowest in a decade. Social housing has nearly halved in 30 years from 5.6% to 3.8%. And we need 1.08 million homes in six years, though we’re only on track for 1.04 million.
It comes as the OECD said our interest rate (4.35%) should stay high because inflation remains high. It surged from 0.6% to 1% in the March quarter, AFR reports, outpacing the 0.8% expectation, while annual inflation was 3.6% (down from 4.1%). The Reserve Bank has repeatedly said it’s aiming for a 2-3% range before it’ll cut the cash rate. It’ll probably happen between May and June 2025, investors reckon. Right in time for the next government term… Meanwhile, people want to live in Brisbane but they can’t because there aren’t enough homes, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said per the Brisbane Times. Deloitte said Brissy’s economy will grow by 34% by 2041 with six million new residents, due to the leading post-COVID tourism recovery, a five-fold increase in manufacturing, and health exports.
GREEN MACHINE
Melbourne is going to spend $30 million on making the city look more green and open, the Herald Sun reports, by converting roads and concrete areas into nine new parks and reserves. Some projects are already in the works — like the space outside the Australian Centre of Contemporary Art, the Chapman St reserve in North Melbourne and the Miles/Dodds St reserve in Southbank. The City of Melbourne says it’s on track to meet its 40% canopy cover goal by 2040, having planted more than 33,000 trees since 2012. It comes as former Australian Defence Force chief Chris Barrie has warned Australia’s most important military spots, like the Royal Australian Air Force bases in Darwin and Katherine, army barracks and a naval base in Darwin, and the Harold E. Holt naval communication station in Exmouth, would experience “near unliveable” extreme heat if the world warms by 2.7 degrees, the SMH reports.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will reportedly announce a production tax-credits scheme for miners in nickel, lithium and rare earths, The Australian ($) reports, in a partial bid to shore up electoral support in Queensland and WA. The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies has previously suggested a 10% refund of the production costs of chemicals such as lithium hydroxide, nickel sulphate, vanadium oxide and rare earth oxides. It follows Resources Minister Madeleine King’s crisis meeting with nickel and lithium miners after the former crashed following a China-backed surge in Indonesia. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola has been taking WA water from Perth Hills for free for two decades, The West Australian ($) reports. Huh? The bore, on a property in Roleystone, is located on unproclaimed groundwater — Water Minister Simone McGurk has called for a meeting with Coca-Cola to explain.
WHAT WOMEN NEED
Have you seen the clip of criminologist and ex-cop Vincent Hurley’s ABC Q+A tirade to politicians that has gone viral? Hurley calls it “disgraceful” that politicians are “high-horsing about” when a man is killing a woman once every four days this year. So what do we do? Hurley, who’s read 1,362 coroners reports, says the common theme is underfunded frontline services for drug and alcohol abuse, gambling addiction and mental illness (indeed Domestic Violence NSW says there are recommendations from 10 government reports that can be actioned). Hurley also said any man with a history of domestic violence (making up 43% of alleged woman-killers) should never get bail. It comes as a 28-year-old NSW Police officer has been charged with a slew of domestic violence offences, the ABC reports, including assault, stalking or intimidating, and harassment. He was suspended without pay and will face court this month.
Meanwhile, Labor is releasing an ad. It will urge parents to learn about online misogyny and speak to their children about it, Guardian Australia reports, spruiking a tool that will let parents see the social media feeds their kids might typically look at. About a quarter of teenage boys look up to online personalities posting misogynist content, the paper notes — the term is often slugged at “custodian of the patriarchy” author Jordan Peterson and “women belong in the home” TikTok star Andrew Tate. It comes as the four-year-old son of Molly Ticehurst described her as “the best mum in the world” at her funeral yesterday, the SMH reports. Her former partner has been charged with her murder — he had been on bail for allegedly sexually assaulting and stalking her. A solemn NSW Premier Chris Minns was photographed among mourners, his head bowed.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE
One of Ukraine’s largest banks will buy a 98-year-old woman a new home after she escaped Russian-occupied territory. Lidia Stepanivna Lomikovska had been noticing more and more Russian troops flowing into her hometown of Ocheretyne, and when she woke to the sound of gunfire, she knew it was time to leave everything she knew behind. Emerging onto the street, her once-friendly neighbours were frantically dashing past her toting bloated bags of belongings. Lomikovska’s son and two daughters-in-law joined her, but during the chaotic evacuation, the younger ones took a back road instead as Stuff tells it. Realising she was suddenly alone, Lomikovska, wearing only slippers, continued on. She had her cane for support, but her body ached with every step. Reaching down for a piece of splintered wood for her other hand, she began what would be a 10-kilometre journey by foot.
Sometime later, the nonagenarian’s feet were caught in some weeds and she stumbled to the ground. Laying there, she knew she couldn’t let the fall defeat her. “I thought to myself, ‘I need to keep walking, bit by bit,” Lomikovska said, and so she did. When the exertion became too much, she’d stop by the side of the road to rest, even curling up in a ball to sleep at one stage. Looking out at the vast Ukrainian landscape, Lomikovska felt quite alone. There was truly nowhere to go but forward, into the unknown. That’s when Ukrainian soldiers spotted her, alerting a police group called the White Angels. Approaching Lomikovska gently, they quickly transported her to a shelter and spoke to her relieved family members. So moved by her story, Monobank’s Oleg Gorokhovskyi announced it would buy Lomikovska a home, which “she will surely live in” when this torrid war is over.
Hoping you can summon even a skerrick of her determination today, and have a restful weekend.
SAY WHAT?
[SA Police] is not aware of anyone who identifies as a ‘furry’.
SA Police spokesperson
Not your average day for the media officer working at the South Australian cops after The Advertiser reported one of the police officers identifies as a cat during their time off.
CRIKEY RECAP
“Now we dress sends a social message to the world, and politicians know this better than anyone. Whether it’s rolling up their sleeves and pretending to get stuck into some manual labour for the first time in their lives, throwing on a scarf to yell ‘Go Sharks’, or donning a pair of infamous budgie smugglers, Australian politicians rely on the power of style.
“Crikey sat down with Derek Guy, editor of online menswear outlet Put This On — or you might know him as that viral ‘menswear guy’ on X — to rate and roast the outfits of a few selected Australian politicians.”
“Another legacy from a more hopeful era in digital platform regulation is the industry codes process. Whether they are voluntary (as for misinformation and disinformation) or mandatory (as for online safety), the industry ‘holds the pen’ on drafting.
“The technical input that the industry can provide to these exercises should not be dismissed, but their outsized influence over drafting outcomes should be. The industry’s input should be, at the very least, reduced to match the input presently extended to public interest researchers and affected communities.”
“The CPJ also tracks the number of journalists in prison around the world, with a snapshot taken on December 1 each year. Last year was the second highest on record with 320 behind bars. (It was also the first time Israel made the top six jailers of journalists, by imprisoning Palestinian reporters in the West Bank.)
“The figures have also steadily increased since 2000 when only 92 were behind bars. In an analysis of the charges the journalists are facing, the CPJ found that almost two-thirds of them are being held on what the organisation broadly describes as ‘anti-state charges’.”
READ ALL ABOUT IT
Whistleblower who accused Boeing supplier of ignoring defects dies (Al Jazeera)
Pro-China candidate wins Solomon Islands PM vote (BBC)
Biden calls US ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with India, Russia and China (CNN)
Bob Carr confirms intention to launch legal action against Winston Peters (NZ Herald)
Turkey reportedly halts all trade with Israel over war in Gaza (The Guardian)
California police flatten pro-Palestinian camp at UCLA, arrest protesters (Reuters)
Hybrid war: NATO sounds alarm over ‘hostile’ Russian activity across Europe (euronews)
‘I will never forget any of it’: Brittney Griner is ready to talk (The New York Times) ($)
Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy to step down amid fresh layoffs (The Wall Street Journal) ($)
THE COMMENTARIAT
O’Neil and Giles dodge the spotlight shining on blunders over ex-detainees — Michelle Grattan (The Conversation): “The ministers’ excuse for their reticence doesn’t wash, because the matter goes to wider issues around inadequacies in how these detainees, including Doukoshkan, have been handled. There are serious questions about ministerial responsibility and administrative competence (or incompetence) that need to be answered. It is not as though we’re dealing just with history. Given what’s happened so far with this cohort, it’s possible — even likely — there will be future incidents (indeed, another man was arrested on Wednesday over curfew breaches).
“A significant number of the former detainees have run foul of the law since their release. On figures from early February, revealed in Senate estimates, some 18 had been charged with state or territory offences. Five people have been charged with visa breaches since March 13. There were others before that but because it was found invalid visas had been issued to the ex-detainees, those cases were dropped. The government insists it has put in place all the measures it can to ensure the ex-detainees are monitored so they don’t pose threats to the community.”
The cruel spectacle of British asylum policy — Daniel Trilling (The New York Times): “The news and the video are a stark reminder that there are real people at the sharp end of this policy. Nearly 30,000 people made small-boat journeys to Britain last year alone, and deaths have become more common. Five people, including a child, died making the crossing last week, hours after the bill passed. Few, if anyone, think this is an acceptable state of affairs. It is one facet of a global problem — an international failure to provide displaced people with the safety and security that would remove the need for such journeys. More safe routes to asylum, along with greater international cooperation to support refugees, are an essential part of the solution, yet governments in many parts of the world are instead choosing deterrence.
“Britain, however, stands out not just for doubling down on punishment, but for making a spectacle of it. The government has also banned refugees who enter Britain without permission from ever claiming asylum here, putting tens of thousands of people who are already here in legal limbo, many of whom are already on the edge of destitution. According to polling last week, 41% of Britons support the Rwanda policy in principle, but 50% think it’s unlikely anyone will actually be deported there. The British public’s reaction to seeing people actually rounded up and put on flights may not be the reaction Sunak is counting on.”
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE
WHAT’S ON TODAY
Eora Nation Country (also known as Sydney)
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Author Peter Goldsworthy will speak about his new book, The Cancer Finishing School, at Gleebooks.
Yuggera and Turrbal Country (also known as Brisbane)
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Author Siang Lu will talk about his book, Ghost Cities, at Avid Reader bookshop.
