In Australia the main political beneficiaries from the cost-of-living and housing crises are the parties on the left, particularly the Greens. [...] The right-leaning parties that have challenged aspects of a similar agenda overseas (including Le Pen’s National Rally in France and the Republican Party in the US as transformed by Trump) exhibit the opposite end of the spectrum on each of the three dimensions. [...] The day has long been celebrated on the 26th of January to commemorate the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 and thus the historical beginnings of modern Australia. [...] The overall political situation In the aftermath of the voice referendum opinion polls began to show that Labor had lost ground to the Coalition and that the Coalition was in a position to make gains.13 According to our December 2023 survey there has been a significant decline in the Labor share of the primary vote since May 2022 and a significant increase in the Coalition share. [...] As we have argued elsewhere, the key reason is that the policy pursued by the Federal Labor Government and by the State Labor Governments of building ‘up not out’, that is, concentrating housing growth in established inner and middle suburbs, is not working and is unlikely to work.22 This is because of the high site- and build-costs for new dwellings in these suburbs.
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- 59
- Published in
- Australia
