Congratulations petitioners, we’ve officially attracted the attention of Garth Turner, the Canadian ex Minister of Parliament who spoke out against the “super cash for housing” scheme in Canada (and wrote an open letter to Nick Xenophon about it) – because it led to them having the world’s second most expensive real-estate in the world:
More than a week ago, as I dreamt of goats, I wrote about independent Aussi senator Nick Xenophon and his showboating campaign to create a Canadian-style Home Buyer’s Place down under. Here we call state-assisted retirement savings “RRSPs”, and (as you know), lusty young first-time virginal homebuyers can pluck up to $50,000 from their plans for a real estate down payment, on the condition they eventually pay it back. Sadly, a huge number do not – likely because they bought so much house with such bloated debt they have no money.
In Australia, such savings are called “superannuation” and Senator Nicky wants kids to be able to raid it the same way, because that country is also plagued with seminal horniness and houses people can’t afford. But, as I explained here, the HBP doesn’t work. All we have done is transfer $30 billion from savings and investments into real estate, allowing 2.5 million more sales, and helping jack prices to the point where we are the second-most-unaffordable country on the planet.
Suddenly (since my blog post) a movement of sane, mostly young people in the land of the billabong has erupted to stop Nicko, because they fear the plan would (as here) simply goose values more. They also suggest the senator, who owns eight investment properties may be working in his own naked self-interest. Imagine. Shocking, I tell you.
Well, here’s the petition, and I didn’t see anywhere that northern hosers are excluded from adding their voices. By the way, the young ‘roo warriors credit me with creating the HBP here in Canada. I did not. Too busy inventing trouble.
Thanks Garth, we’re grateful for your whistle-blowing and personally writing to Nick to tell him how it is. I will be raising Garth’s thoughts on the petition with Nick Xenophon and suggesting that introducing to parliament a policy modelled on Canada’s scheme would be an embarrassing failure for his office – given that a key proponent of the failed scheme believes that the policy would worsen Australia’s affordability, and that a petition against the plan seems like a a sane idea.
Thanks to attention from Garth Turner, Prosper Australia, MacroBusiness and other notable advocates over the last week, we are approaching the half-way mark of 500 signatures! If you haven’t already, please spread the word far and wide by email, Facebook, Twitter (#PetitionNickXenophon, @Nick_Xenophon), word of mouth, whatever means available! As Garth said in his letter to Nick:
So, buddy, back off. The goal of a caring politician isn’t to shoehorn more people into debt and bad decisions, just because they want it. Instead, your role is to lead, to stand up for common sense, and battle the forces of cheap expediency and sleazy solutions.
I mean, look where it got me.
Thanks everyone for your support so far.
