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

Opinion Articles

How the Net-Zero dream mugged agriculture

There’s a rule in politics as old as the wheatbelt: never sign anything you wouldn’t be willing to enforce yourself. Unfortunately, the Australian agricultural sector didn’t get the memo. A decade ago, farm lobby groups, industry councils, commodity groups and agribusiness roundtables lined up like schoolkids at assembly to clap along to the great net-zero revival meeting. Many signed a pledge, waved the flag, posed for the photo and strutted back to the paddock believing they’d

Trevor Whittington November 20, 2025

Media Releases

Albany Zone moves to support Nationals’ Net Zero policy

Members of Western Australia’s peak farming body has passed a motion to “endorse the Federal National Party’s decision to abandon Australia’s current net-zero by 2050 commitment.” The meeting of the Albany Zone of WAFarmers yesterday formally called for the organisation’s policy to be updated to “reflect recent political, economic, and technological developments surrounding Australia’s emissions reduction commitments.” The motion also “calls on: The WA Liberal Party and the Federal Liberal Party to review and realign

Trevor Whittington November 7, 2025