28-10-2024: Many today have reluctantly come to accept that corporate politicians are hypocritical and self-serving, and barely raise an eyebrow when an example of such behaviour surfaces. Regardless, the Australian Labor Party (ALP) Prime Minister (PM) Anthony Albanese’s recent purchase of a 4.3 million dollar clifftop mansion[1] on the New South Wales Central Coast has left millions gobsmacked. Australia is in the middle of the worst housing crisis it has ever experienced and is approaching a breaking point. In the face of this, and in the run-up to a federal election early next year where housing affordability will be a critical issue, Albanese’s recent real estate splash is particularly shocking. Even some ALP parliamentarians, who did not wish to be named, commented that it was “not a good look”. The PM has the official residence of the Lodge in Canberra plus the luxurious Kirribilli House in Sydney which are maintained entirely at the expense of the Australian taxpayer. This means “Alba-Nazi” (nicknamed so due to his shipping of military hardware to Nazis in Ukraine and forcing Australia’s most powerful Union into administration) can pour the entirety of his hefty income into prime real estate.
Unaffordable homes
Rubbing salt into the wound, the PM’s new mansion is in a town called Copacabana (!), has ocean views and is a short stroll to a nearby beach. The PM and the ALP cannot even begin to claim their concern is getting more people into home ownership. Yet neither can the opposition Liberal Party, as they also oppose changes to the notorious negative gearing and capital gains tax laws which encourage property investing – for those lucky enough to be able to afford it. For millions of workers, this is simply a pipe dream, even for those with full time paid employment. In fact, even just renting a modest property for somewhere to live is out of reach for many. Anglicare Australia’s latest Rental Affordability Snapshot found that nurses, paramedics, childcare and construction workers can afford, at the most, just 2.2% of the properties available to let.[2] And the lack of properties available for reasonable rental rates is not just a problem in the capital cities, but across rural and regional areas.
The problem is not migration levels, as some erroneously believe, as around one million properties across the country remain vacant.[3] In some places, properties remain vacant while just a few metres away people are being forced to live in tents. Another reason for this appalling state of affairs is that the median house price for all of Australia’s capital cities combined is a staggering $1 004 385.[4] Needless to say, 1 million dollars for an average house for a family to live in is way beyond the means of the vast majority of working people. Most young people leaving school and university are lucky to find a place to rent, let alone take out a mortgage. Moreover, many of these houses are five or more decades old, but have been skyrocketing in value in recent years. The unfortunate fact is that late-stage capitalism treats housing as a commodity to be bought and sold like any other investment.
War at home and abroad
The notion that houses should house the population and give people a place to shelter from the elements, is anathema to a society which prioritises private wealth accumulation above all else. People living in tents in major cities and regional towns was unheard of just five years ago, before monomaniacal politicians deliberately shut down of whole sections of the economy alongside mind boggling political repression under the patently false guise of a “deadly virus”. Low-income people were hit the hardest, and property investors large and small cashed in on human misery. The big supermarket chains chimed in by jacking up the price of basic foods to unheard of levels, such as $10 for a dozen eggs. A big reason for the housing crisis is the collision of wage levels that are almost entirely stagnant with house prices rising ever higher. The result is more people sleeping in their cars, wherever someone might have a spare couch, or ending up on the streets themselves.
While this is happening, on October 18 Australian defence officials stated that US (United States of America) B2 Stealth bombers flew through Australian airspace in a demonstration of “interoperability” with the US military. The officials claimed that the Australian Defence Force (ADF) provided support for the 17 October US military strikes on Houthi facilities in Yemen.[5] It is known that the ADF air bases in Tindal and Darwin houses large US jet fuel stores. So while millions of Australians experience housing stress, and some face living on the streets, the Australian government is boasting of its subservient role to the US military while it wages war on one of the poorest countries on Earth. The Australian ruling class is a willing partner with US imperialism as it simultaneously threatens regime change wars on Iran, Russia and China. Ansar Allah (“Houthis”) in Yemen, on the other hand, are bravely blocking US and UK (United Kingdom) ships in the Red Sea, preventing them from supplying the Israeli Zionist state with ordnance to bomb Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. Most of these wars being provoked by the capitalist West threaten to ignite the planet in a nuclear holocaust.
A housing and cost of living crisis at home and a potential World War III are linked, and what passes for the left should be shouting this from the rooftops. Unfortunately, much of the so-called left is silent in the face of a potential world war, and only emit a few grumbles about the dramatic collapse in living standards. One reason is that they actually do not oppose regime change in Iran, Russia or China, and only stamp their feet at a war on Palestine. While Palestine should be defended, it should be defended along with the mainstays of the BRICS + alliance (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran and more), if for no other reason than Palestine is seeking to join the BRICS along with many other states.
Australia desperately needs a revolution, where the banks, energy, infrastructure and the major means of production are nationalised. A workers’ republic would then put an immediate end to participation in insane war provocations and focus on using national resources for the benefit of the masses. In cooperation with workers internationally, it would open a new front in struggles for a real socialism, where provided housing, food, education, healthcare and much more will be the fruits of victory.
Workers League
www.redfireonline.com
E: workersleague@protonmail.com
[1] www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/anthony-albanese-buys-4-3-million-clifftop-perfection-property-20241015-p5kiay.html (23-10-2024)
[2] www.msn.com/en-au/news/other/rental-crisis-is-everywhere-dire-for-essential-workers/ar-AA1sjzXA (23-10-2024)
[3] www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-20/homeless-crisis-million-homes-vacant-in-australia/101234424 (23-10-2024)
[4] www.propertyupdate.com.au/the-latest-median-property-prices-in-australias-major-cities/ (23-10-2024)
[5] www.reuters.com/world/australia-says-it-provided-support-us-airstrikes-yemen-2024-10-18/ (23-10-2024)
Red Fire 