HALT FOREIGN WORKERS
Since Malcolm Turnbull has had the top job in office he has boasted that his government, at this stage, has created 300,000 part time jobs.
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When asked how he achieved this, his reply was simple.
You get rid of 50,000 full time jobs.
This never happened years ago and it shouldn't be happening now.
Almost every young and older person today are at risk of going nowhere unless the influx of foreign workers is halted immediately.
Matty Ryan, Fairy Meadow
SIGN OF THE TIMES
On a 300 metre stretch between Queen St Berry and the railway line there are seven non-owner occupied holiday homes for rent.
No doubt a sign of the times where investment properties are gaining popularity over traditional family mortgages.
John Macleod, Berry
HOUSING SOLUTION
Removing negative gearing on housing investment is good policy for three reasons.
Firstly, we have a debt problem. The government needs to raise revenue.
Secondly, we have a structural finance problem in Australia. The big four banks are the major part of the stock market.
They invest mostly in real estate. So too much of our domestic savings are allocated to housing.
We are the equivalent of a farm that invests its finance in large farmhouses rather than soil sampling and tractors.
The government has said that it wants to encourage new industry.
But it is inconsistent, on one hand, to try to attract investment into new industry by offering tax concessions, while on the other, to offer incentives such as negative gearing on housing loans which attract investment AWAY from development of productive capacity.
“Mum and dad” investors should be encouraged by government policy to invest money in factories, farms and innovation that will create ongoing employment.
Certainly “people need somewhere to live”, but Australia does its housing in an expensive and inequitable way. We build the world’s biggest houses.
We subsidise wealthy people rather than poor people to own property. We sell real estate in bulk to non Australians and have the highest population growth rate in the OECD.
Thirdly, we have a housing affordability crisis. Subsidising existing property inflates housing prices and discriminates against young people.
Rowan Huxtable, Mangerton
WE HAD THE ANSWER
Jessica Irvine says there is "no answer to diluting the power of the monopolists and moguls that dominate our markets" (Illawarra Mercury, May 23).
Actually there is. Labor had the answer, it was in their platform. Nationalise them.
Labor abandoned nationalisation, they said it was a necessary ”reform”. The Liberals thanked them, after all it was their policy and they have been on a privatisation spree ever since.
The biggest prize to the moguls was our Commonwealth Bank that Keating privatised. Labor now wants a Royal Commission into banking rorts. No need. Just bring back the Commonwealth Bank.
Reg Wilding, Wollongong
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