Politicians desperately pandering to a powerful public service and clawing for marginal seat votes are missing an opportunity to change our nation for the better.
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Housing affordability is one of the key issues in the major population centres and politicians, while happy to highlight the problem, offer no real solution.
Land shortages and rocketing property prices are making it increasingly difficult for the next generation of homebuyers to access the market, prompting some politicians to claim the “great Australian dream” of home ownership was fast becoming a nightmare for future generations.
Instead of being visionary in their outlook, our politicians go for the easy targets in a ridiculous blame game – banks, state governments and “greedy” investors.
A solution already exists and needs nothing more than some brave leadership.
Regional Australia is crying out for investment and population. Cities such as Wagga are well placed to provide a solution to the housing affordability crisis and population crush facing our major metropolitan centres.
A decentralisation policy would be a great starting point, but there also needs to be a focus on ensuring services and infrastructure are in place to absorb a population shift.
Creating and developing regional and rural centres will have a two-fold benefit.
Firstly, a proactive approach on this front will ensure the continued growth of regional Australia but just as importantly, it would provide desperately needed relief in metropolitan areas.
In doing this, city housing prices would ease and the stress on services such as health and education, lifted.
It’s an obvious solution to a growing challenge but sadly, our current crop of politicians lack the vision to implement anything of a meaningful nature.
Relocation of government departments doesn’t cut it –regional development needs to be a central and bipartisan policy.
With developments of high-speed rail and the NBN rollout in the pipeline, the landscape has never been as attractive for discussion around this issue.
The Evocities program has started the “sell” of regional areas, but state and federal governments need to engage thew wider community and encourage action.
Housing affordability in the larger cities will only remain a problem while politicians refuse to acknowledge the opportunities that exist in regional Australia.