Barnaby Joyce is having a bad week when it comes to suggesting simplistic solutions for complex problems.
His outburst at former federal ministerial colleague Ian Macfarlane and others who want to change Australia Day – "I wish they'd crawl under a rock and hide for a little bit" – came hours after the Deputy Prime Minister told Sydneysiders to go bush if they wanted cheaper housing.
![Nationals Leader and member for New England Barnaby Joyce grew up in the village of Woolbrook near Walcha. He and his ...](/web/20170126143745im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/p/x/0/v/r/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gtyus9.png/1485428815928.jpg)
Mr Joyce knows about living in the country. He grew up on the Northern Tablelands in a village named Woolbrook, near Walcha – a town where the median price of a three-bedroom house is $230,000. The equivalent in Mount Druitt is $622,000 and $2.05 million in Paddington.
Woolbrook houses fewer than 250 people and Mr Joyce's old school, where he and his parents voted in the 2016 election.
Hundreds of thousands of city slickers could easily join the Joyces there, sharing the great Australian dream that eludes so many who are priced out of urban home ownership.
A paltry $690,000 today will get you a 120-hectare property named Olley Glen at Top Congi Road, Woolbrook. The sales blurb says it's the "Perfect Starter Block With The Right Address" for fattening cattle. There's a machinery shed and weekender cottage, too. But if $700,0000-odd seems like a city price, then $110,000 will snatch an old church in Bendemeer, a few kilometres away. The one-bedder, set on a 3959-square-metre block, would "ideally suit the person looking for a quite (sic) country tree change".
A few slight hitches, though. Not everyone can get a job in the bush. Not everyone can fatten cattle. Not everyone has family support there. Not every country town can supply thousands of people, of various backgrounds, with medical services and education.
Cities, meanwhile, still need emergency workers, teachers, aged care staff and unskilled labourers for construction. Most, however, collect wages that keep city home ownership well out of reach, at least within reasonably commuting distance.
While Mr Joyce's simple answer to head bush might have been flippant, it reflects a worrying trend in the Turnbull government. Rather than tackle problems with reasoned debate, analysis and policy development, there's a tendency to label constructive criticism as whingeing. Worse, the status quo is safe if there's a political risk involved. Take negative gearing and the capital gains tax discount, which give investors an unfair advantage over first home buyers.
Mr Turnbull stresses housing affordability is all about supply, yet history shows that more homes can never meet pent-up demand. More than 31,000 new homes were built in Sydney in the 12 months to October, the highest annual number of new homes in more than four decades. Still, prices keep rising.
New Premier Gladys Berejiklian is a supply argument supporter, too, although at least she has declared housing affordability among her three key priorities and says, "I will be open-minded to seeking advice of people outside the government, outside the bureaucracy, outside elected officials to support us in that".
While Planning Minister Rob Stokes has moved to fast-track development approvals, he would rather limit property investment tax breaks.
But his federal counterparts hold out.
Mr Turnbull has handed housing affordability issue to new Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar. He says that "long-term, more decentralised job creation and planning is an answer". He also admits Mr Joyce told just part of the story: "To say 'well, you need to move to a regional area', you and I – and I know the Deputy Prime Minister knows this – is not simply something we can say to those whose gainful employment can only be achieved in a CBD of a capital city."
Treasurer Scott Morrison is in London examining a British scheme that lends cheap money to developers of affordable housing. He should also examine the rent-to-buy scheme there. And above all he should check out how the tax break for property investors will be reined in from April to give first-home buyers a fair chance.
Before Christmas the Herald wished that things might change on housing affordability in the new year.
Mr Joyce's approach suggests 2017 has begun just as 2016 ended. We wait in hope, that Mr Sukkar and Mr Morrison find smarter solutions.