Episode 135: Housing policy or why the Greens and Dutton are wrong, wages vs profit prices spirals and good news about national parks

Van Badham and Ben Davison take a closer look at Labor's proposed
housing fund, why the Green opposition doesn't stack up and why
the Dutton position remains the worst of all possible outcomes.


With debate still raging about "the best" housing policies
Labor's policy achieves some core outcomes.  More homes, a
mechanism that Dutton can't easily scrap and an acknowledgement
of the physical limitation imposed by supply chains and the
availability of skilled workers.


The Green "Build all the homes now, just not in our backyard"
policy lacks the pre-requisite of being based in reality.


Today is IDAHOBIT and Van and Ben discuss how communities have
done the work to make progress on LGBTQIA+ rights and the
difference between changes that need symbolic or small resource
shifts but large cultural shifts and issues that need large scale
resource reallocation.


The union movement campaigned for and won protections for trans,
intersex and gender diverse workers in the Fairwork Act, has
helped raise wages by the largest amount since 2013 and is
currently campaigning for a 7% minimum wage increase.  You
can join these campaigns at australianunions.org.au/wow


Van and Ben discuss how the bosses lobby continues to fight
against wage increases and even denies the role of profits in
raising inflation. 


The good news is about a new national park the size of Bali in
Western Australia and we acknowledge our supporters who have gone
to www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday to make a contribution
towards growing the podcast.