Opinion Articles

We can’t have a debate on rail without understanding the cost–benefit

Western Australia’s grain freight debate has become oddly unhinged. We talk endlessly about road damage, truck numbers, safety, emissions and who should pay. Rail tragics insist that reopening Tier 3 lines will solve all our problems. Road realists respond that we should simply widen and upgrade roads to allow triples. Yet the one thing farmers and road users actually need to have a rational debate about is largely absent: a clear, public, apples-to-apples understanding of what it

Trevor Whittington February 12, 2026

Opinion Articles

How the Housing Boom Broke the Lucky Country

Like every parent watching their adult kids edge toward the real estate market, I look at the numbers with growing alarm. In 25 years, Perth house prices have jumped from roughly $200,000 to close to $900,000 — a three-to-fivefold increase — while wages have barely doubled from $50,000 to $100,000. That’s not a generational squeeze; it’s a structural impossibility. Unless the next generation marries a doctor, a diesel mechanic, a FIFO worker, wins Lotto, or

Trevor Whittington December 11, 2025