Bracks’ outrageous attack on the Australian dream
Joe Cambria
Not satisfied with frustrating the dreams of ordinary Victorians by savagely taxing residential land and crippling urban development, sneeringly called “urban sprawl” by his trendy supporters, Bracks is now attacking the ambition of many Australians to own a modest seaside house. He intends to do this by restricting development to within the current boundaries of coastal towns.
This policy would stop development on the beaches between Victorian towns and raise values, effectively bestowing capital gains on present owners of seaside property, one of whom is Mr Bracks himself, at the expense of other members of community who will now find themselves priced out of the market by government decree.
It is sickeningly obvious that the coastal ‘development’ policy is just a grubby attempt by the Bracks’ Government’s to buy the votes of the well-off at the expense of the remainder of the community. I regret to say that I do not expect many of the rich landowners to display much in the way of integrity with respect to this policy.
I have owned a coastal property for some years now and can understand why a lot of people like to spend weekends, retire or vacation on the coast. Some of Melbourne’s wealthy have splendid vacation homes in the peninsula area, for instance, many of which are set on leafy roads and only a short distance from the beach. The very rich maintain houses on the cliff in Portsea/Sorrento overlooking Port Phillip Bay.
About three years ago the Federal Government decided to close a military training school at the base of the peninsula, which meant that some 90 hectares of prime water facing land could have been freed up for sale either to the private market or the state Government.
The Government’s action set off one of the not so amusing selfish fights I have ever witnessed. The state Government could not really afford to pay for the property because it had other priorities — like attempting to hire its own constituency in the public service sector, or hiring more speed inspectors previously known as policemen.
Well known doyens of famous families like Kate Baileau — whose grandfather was a wealthy land speculator — organised several local demonstrations, explaining to anyone that would listen that the land going to a private owner was the moral equivalency of mass murder and rape. She used the press to try and frighten prospective purchasers away with threats of social stigma. It is times like these when I wish I had Warren Buffet’s bank roll to play with.
Stores and front gardens ran placards reminding us residents that we needed to act urgently in order to “save the Mornington Peninsula”. From what you may ask. Now I don’t mind people who are upfront about their desires and wants. I don’t however have any time for greed cloaked as altruism.
Rich adults behaving as though they are caring greenies makes me want to look for a bucket. As anyone with an IQ of 30 could see from a distance, these well-heeled ‘caring greenies’ were attempting an old fashioned land grab. What they wanted was a piece of beautiful land where they and their other well-heeled friends could take splendid picnics and walks: all at the expense of Victorian taxpayers. That this amounted to a wealth transfer to them from the rest of the community didn’t occur to them — and it still doesn’t, not that they care anyhow.
What really made me want to throw up, and still does, was the sight of rich people trying to pick the pockets of those who can ill afford it. No one down on the peninsula has ever been able to explain to me why it would have been better for this land to be publicly owned rather than privately. If these well-heeled blue bloods were truly caring they would have done the decent thing and bought the land and then donated it to the state instead of trying to raid the wallets of their fellow Victorians.
It may be trite to point out that actions have consequences, but it is no less true for that. The point is that restricting the supply of land for development will have a detrimental effect on houses prices. And the same goes for the coastal areas
A similar situation arose in California’s San Mateo County and Marin County where affluent people manipulated the law to restrict development so that only their kind of people could afford to build in those counties. I now see the same kind of selfish behaviour being pandered to in Victoria. As the fates would have it, it’s a damned Labor Government that’s kowtowing to these self-absorbed anti-social groups.
Not content with drawing a circle around Melbourne to stop further development, meaning that more and more people over time will be forced into apartment living as land becomes increasingly scarce and more expensive, Bracks is now curtailing the possibility of people buying rural property to get away from their four walls. In other words, he would have the less well-off live like rats. The left is truly disgusting.
Moreover, not only pious Bracks but several of his colleagues stand to profit financially from their own legislation. If this is not a shameful conflict of interest I’ll be damned if know what is. If this pack of greedy hypocrites had the slightest integrity or respect for common decency they would have sold their properties before publicly making known their intentions.
What is truly ironic about this selfish policy is that the Labor Party’s natural constituency, the little people, will suffer the most from its implementation. So what is the Liberal Party going to do about it? Is it going to stand up demand that ordinary Australians also have the right buy coastal properties priced at market values and not restrictive values aimed at buying the support of a bunch of egotistical yuppies and aging snobs.
Editor: Mr Cambria owns property in the Peninsula and would benefit financially from any further restrictions on development in the region. Nevertheless, he still believes that a gross injustice is being been done and that financial gains from such actions are immoral, particularly when they accrue to the same politicians who imposed the restrictions.
Email Mr Cambria
Joe Cambria was a Wall Street trader for 15 years.
BrookesNews.Com
Monday 24 April 2006