Australian Politics
Wednesday, April 12, 2023
‘Pseudo hotels’: Short-stays already outrank available rentals in nine Brisbane suburbs
Letting out your apartment as a short stay holiday letting gives the owner almost complete escape from government regulations. The lesson there is the deadly effect of government interventions in the normal rental market. Giving owners back more freedom could make a big dent in the housing shortage. The very large numbers of short stay properties shows how much housing is available. The government wants to convert the short stays into long stays but does not seem to realize that they are the biggest barrier to that
There are more properties available on the short-stay platform Airbnb than the private rental market in nine Brisbane suburbs – and industry leaders fear the supply imbalance will become worse.
Teneriffe already has 40 short-stay properties compared to 34 rentals but other inner-city suburbs risk tipping over the supply edge, including Bulimba and New Farm.
Short-stays are also on their way to overtaking available rentals in popular suburbs Kangaroo Point, Spring Hill, Auchenflower and Ascot, as Brisbane’s current vacancy rate remains at an all-time low of 0.8 per cent.
While thousands of Brisbane properties were listed on short-stay accommodation sites Airbnb, Stayz and Cheap Holiday Homes, only 679 properties were included in the Brisbane City Council’s official tally, after it introduced a self-reporting system last year.
Council confirmed more short-stay properties were yet to be added to the list, as the newly implemented Deckard Technology software system continued to find all short-stay properties advertised for 60 consecutive days.
The state government in October 2022 commissioned independent experts to delve into the effects of short-term rentals such as Airbnb and Stayz, with the report meant to be done by the end of the year.
A spokeswoman for Deputy Premier Steven Miles office confirmed the “preliminary” research had been completed in late 2022 and the government had moved to “expand” the work, which would now include what was happening in other jurisdictions.
“We need a clearer picture of how sites such as Airbnb and Stayz are affecting the tight rental market,” she said.
“This will be a significant piece of work, providing detailed analysis into the positive and negative impacts on housing affordability and availability, the tourism industry, property owners and communities.
“It will also explore how the impact varies across different regions – for example, the impact in Noosa is likely to be different to the impact in Brisbane.”
Some short-stay hosts using the Airbnb platform are currently pricing two or three-bedroom properties at more than $2000 a week compared to the current median rental price of $550 a week.
REIQ chief executive Antonia Mercorella said the lucrative short-stay property trend was unsurprising, as ongoing tenancy reform had “driven away some investors” towards the short-term market.
She said both state and local governments should be incentivising private investors to either stay or move to long-term leasing, rather than penalising short-stay hosts or “imposing other forms of punishment”.
“Private investors are vital to the long-term rental market to ensure we have adequate levels of rental housing,” Ms Mercorella said.
“We would like to see the government taking a ‘carrot’ approach rather than coming at investors with the stick.”
Airbnb host Hollie Gordon, who rents out her Teneriffe property to NDIS participants and flood victims, said being a short-stay host was far more attractive than a landlord.
“I’m someone that’s worked really hard to acquire a rental property and to give that freedom away to someone else to do with it whatever they want, modify it how they like, that scares me,” she said.
“Landlords have lost control of their properties.
“I don’t understand why the government is not looking into interstate migration instead of talking about us being greedy landlords – we’re not.
“We’re looking after our own community. “These are Brisbane residents we’re housing, not out-of-state tourists.”
Airbnb’s head of public policy for Australia and New Zealand, Michael Crosby, said the popular short-stay company was vying for a statewide registration scheme and was willing to help the housing crisis.
“Airbnb is keen to work together with a broad range of stakeholders and help play a part in helping to provide meaningful solutions and tackle the issue of housing supply and affordability,” Mr Crosby said.
“The proposal included the introduction of statewide registration schemes and codes of conduct in every state and territory, support for a tourism levy to fund housing and community projects, and support for government reviews of eviction protections to ensure that current systems are fit for purpose and provide adequate housing security for long-term renters.”
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'Gender-neutral' pronouns will be introduced in South Australian state parliament for MPs and dignitaries... even His Majesty King Charles gets a 'woke' new title
South Australia's parliament is doing away with 'gender-specific' terms including 'he', 'she', 'him' and 'her' and will introduce 'gender-neutral' pronouns.
The Lower House will adopt the changes as part of its standing orders with even 'His Majesty' King Charles to now be referred to as 'the sovereign'.
Instead of saying His or Her Excellency for state Governors such as Frances Adamson, she and all subsequent titleholders will be called 'the governor'.
'They', 'their' and 'them' and will replace all gendered pronouns in the rules of procedure while parliamentary committees will no longer have a 'chairman' but be presided over by 'the chair'.
The state's Labor government and the Coalition opposition jointly supported the amendments.
A spokesperson for the government led by Premier Peter Malinauskas said the change would 'modernise the parliamentary workplace'.
'With record numbers of Labor women elected to the parliament, it makes no sense for them to be called 'chairman' when overseeing a committee,' they said.
Opposition spokeswoman Michelle Lensink said the changes reflect 'community expectations' while simplifying and updating references 'in line with other jurisdictions across the country'.
The modified language comes with a raft of other measures to allow electronic attendance at committee meetings, changes to maternity leave, changes to questions on notice deadlines and removal of redundant standing orders.
Despite the changes only applying to the Lower House some of South Australia's Upper House MPs were far from impressed.
'Wokeism has even penetrated the workings of parliament,' SA-Best MLC Frank Pangallo said.
'I don't think (gendered pronouns) caused any harm or offence in our community. I think this is sort of the left elements in politics that are exerting themselves.'
Mr Pangallo argued parliament should be focused on issues such as the crises in health and the child protection system.
One Nation MLC Sarah Game said 'at the first instance, I feel that to remove him/her/he/she is ridiculous'.
Greens MLC Robert Simms supported the changes and said they were in line with modern workplace standards.
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Fake Aboriginal art again
Works "juiced up" by white supervisors
The National Gallery of Australia will launch an urgent independent investigation into whether white studio assistants painted on Indigenous artworks that are destined for its showcase winter exhibition.
The gallery announced on Monday it would examine the provenance of works in the Ngura Pulka: Epic Country exhibition of APY Lands art, which is scheduled to open in less than nine weeks and has been heavily promoted as “entirely” created by the the APY Art Centre Collective’s Anangu painters.
The unprecedented probe follows a four-month investigation by The Australian which uncovered allegations of white hands on black art produced by the collective, and a video of a studio manager painting on the canvas of leading Indigenous artist Yaritji Young, who will be featured in the NGA exhibition.
News of the investigation came amid calls by two senior Indigenous artists for the APYACC management to resign over the allegations. In a statement issued on Monday, the NGA said: “The National Gallery of Australia is concerned at media reports regarding the authorship of works in its forthcoming exhibition Ngura Pulka: Epic Country.
“The National Gallery announces that it is commissioning an independent review of the provenance and creation of the works in the exhibition, to assess provenance authorship and the extent of the ‘hand of assistance’.”
The gallery would not answer a range of questions about who would head the investigation, what its terms of reference would be, and how it would conduct such a complex review before the exhibition opened on June 3. It would also not state what it deemed to be unacceptable interference in the making of Indigenous art.
NGA board member Sally Scales, who is a member of the APYACC board and has staunchly defended the authenticity of the collective’s work, will recuse herself from the probe.
The gallery has used Ms Young in its promotion of the exhibition, quoting her attesting to the provenance of the works: “Artists out here are known for being brave and adventurous, we push new ideas while still protecting and keeping our Tjukurpa (sacred stories) strong for our children and grandchildren.”
Another of the leading artists featured in the exhibition spoke to The Australian at length about white interference in the APYACC’s studios, but then recanted her story after questions were sent to the collective’s manager, Skye O’Meara, about the allegations.
At least one of The Australian’s sources said on Monday that if she could be guaranteed anonymity, she would be prepared to talk to the NGA’s investigators about white studio staff painting on Indigenous art works. The source claimed that some of the paintings destined to appear in the NGA’s exhibition, Ngura Pulka, would “definitely have had a white hand in them”. She claimed that many of the “big ticket” artworks destined for a gallery exhibition or an expensive sale were routinely worked on by white studio staff.
Indigenous artist Fiona Foley, a former member of the Australia Council, said the scandal coming out of the APYACC had the potential to discredit and destabilise the Aboriginal arts sector and declared it was vitally important for the NGA’s investigation to be conducted properly.
“The multiple layers of nepotism, actual and perceived conflicts of interest and allegations of falsifying authorship have not been satisfactorily responded to by the NGA director Nick Mitzevich, or the NGA council or assistant director Indigenous engagement, Bruce Johnson McLean,” Dr Foley said. “Who will chair and make up the independent review team needs to be clarified? As it stands, it has similar overtones regarding reviews when ‘the police investigate the police’ on matters of misconduct and ethics.”
She added it was important to note the artists had not done anything wrong. “They’ve been forced into a situation that they feel very uncomfortable with because they are being asked to do things that are not part of their traditional dreaming story,” Dr Foley said. “I don’t see them being at fault. It is more like a type of coercion.”
Dr Foley has called for the management of the APYACC to resign in the wake of five artists and six studio staffers alleging to The Australian they witnessed significant interference by white staff in the collective’s studios, including by Ms O’Meara.
In a video obtained by The Australian, white studio manager Rosie Palmer is shown painting on Ms Young’s canvas at Tjala Arts in the remote APY settlement of Amata. In the same video clip her white colleague questioned whether the painting could “do with another rockhole”.
The APYACC claimed this was an acceptable practice, and described it as “background wash”, however numerous arts centre managers, artists and industry figures saw otherwise.
The NGA has promoted Ngura Pulka as one of the largest and “most significant First Nations community-driven art projects” and stated that all works were “entirely conceived, created, directed and determined by Anangu people”.
The NGA is partnering with the APYACC to put on the exhibition. A spokesperson for the APYACC said in the NGA’s statement: “We welcome the independent review and will fully and openly participate. It is important to all of our artists that there is no question as to the integrity of our process of the creation of our art.”
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Social media censors not playing fair on Voice debate, letter claims
Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant has been urged to ensure that both sides of the Voice debate get a hearing and that accusations of “hate speech” are not weaponised to shut down “no” campaigners online.
The call comes after a series of incidents in which videos, ads, and other materials backing the “no” case against constitutional change and an Aboriginal “voice” to parliament were removed or blocked from major social media platforms, often on the basis of questionable claims or “fact checks”.
In correspondence seen by this masthead John Storey, who directs the legal rights program at the Institute of Public Affairs, asked Ms Inman Grant for a clear definition of “hate speech” and questioned her commitment to “take it down”.
The letter noted a number of incidents in which prominent pro-voice campaigners used “vitriolic” language to accuse those on the “no” side of racism.
These incidents included barrister Bret Walker SC reportedly saying that it is “racist” to refer to the proposed voice as a “fourth arm of government” and Professor Marcia Langton saying that those who wanted to shield the government from voice-related court action were guilty of “subconscious racism.”
Mr Storey added that “There is a widespread community perception that the large technology companies already moderate online content in a way that unfairly silences right-of-centre opinions.”
The letter also noted that “The current Commonwealth government is a strong proponent of an Indigenous Voice (and that) the eSafety Commissioner is an official of the Commonwealth government.
“Thus, the exercise of your considerable powers to limit online content, in the context of a political debate in respect to which the government has made its views clear, could be perceived to be state-sanctioned censorship of its opponents rather than the genuine restriction of harmful online abuse.”
“Given these concerns, the powers of the eSafety Commissioner to compel the removal of online material in the context of a political debate must be exercised with the utmost caution,” the letter stated.”
The IPA has also asked the Albanese government to consider broadening the scope of the Broadcasting Services Act to be widened to include social media companies for the length of the referendum campaign, to further ensure both sides get a fair hearing.
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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