LVO talks population ponzi/housing on ABC Radio

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Find above an interview that I gave on ABC 774 Melbourne’s Drive program last night in relation to yesterday’s speech by shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, on housing affordability.

In the interview, I discuss Bowen’s support for a ‘Big Australia’ and why it is at odds with his concerns over housing affordability.

Some of the key points made in the interview were:

  • Chris Bowen delivered a speech a few weeks back that fully embraced Australia’s high immigration program and a “Big Australia”. His comments were at odds with achieving “affordable housing”.
  • Over the past 12 years, Melbourne has added nearly 1 million people to its population, mostly via immigration.
  • Over the next 36 years, the Victorian Government projects that Melbourne’s population will swell by around 75% from current levels to 8 million!
  • That’s around an MCG-worth of people added to Melbourne every year for 36 years and more than double the annual population growth experienced since the Second World War.
  • Housing affordability in Melbourne is already at all-time lows and the city’s home ownership rate has collapsed.
  • It’s going to be next to impossible to achieve affordable housing when an MCG-worth of people are added to Melbourne’s population each and every year. It’s also going to be next to impossible to fix Melbourne’s infrastructure deficit.
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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.