Band-Aid solutions are not very effective and certainly not long-term.

Subscribe now for unlimited access.

Login or signup to continue reading

And yet successive governments keep serving them up. Because we want them. Or think we do. It's just a load of short-term instant gratification.

Better to relearn a few home truths. What governments and people need to learn is the title of an early Rolling Stones song. You can't always get what you want.

Your granny might have said, "you need to cut your cloth." Margaret Thatcher loved using stories that related back to her being "the grocer's daughter".

Failing to heed granny's advice has led us to the situation where our grandchildren will bear the burden of our self-indulgent profligacy.

There may be no better example than housing policy.

Clearly housing prices in Sydney are phenomenal. Housing everywhere is expensive in terms of the proportion of income needed to fund the mortgage.

The instant reaction from governments and policymakers is to ask "how could we help people buy a house?"

For NSW people, perhaps the question should be "is it reasonable for people to expect to be able to live in Sydney?"

It might be where you grew up. It might be where you aspire to live. But so what?

The proper response might be, if you can't afford to live in Sydney go and live somewhere else. Yes, you might need to commute. Tough luck. Other people do, why not you?

When I had the welfare job decades ago, there was no shortage of rich people in inner suburbs who would pompously say of welfare recipients "they should move to where they can get a job". Ask them now if they tell their kids they should buy a house where they can afford it.

Or perhaps your expectations of housing are just too high.

You might like to have an apartment in the city but if you can't afford it, look elsewhere.

You might want to have a home with three bedrooms and an outdoor kitchen. But if that's out of your price range, cut your cloth.

Decades ago, the first property purchase for many couples was a flat. They would save and assiduously pay off the mortgage hoping for a boost of some capital gain.

They may have moved to a bigger flat before being able to purchase a small home. If a child arrived on........

© The Examiner