Episode 135: Housing policy or why the Greens and Dutton are wrong, wages vs profit prices spirals and good news about national parks

"The Week on Wednesday" with Van Badham & Ben Davison

Van Badham and Ben Davison take a closer look at Labor's proposed housing fund, why the Green opposition doesn't stack up and why the Dutton position remains the worst of all possible outcomes.

With debate still raging about "the best" housing policies Labor's policy achieves some core outcomes. More homes, a mechanism that Dutton can't easily scrap and an acknowledgement of the physical limitation imposed by supply chains and the availability of skilled workers.

The Green "Build all the homes now, just not in our backyard" policy lacks the pre-requisite of being based in reality.

Today is IDAHOBIT and Van and Ben discuss how communities have done the work to make progress on LGBTQIA+ rights and the difference between changes that need symbolic or small resource shifts but large cultural shifts and issues that need large scale resource reallocation.

The union movement campaigned for and won protections for trans, intersex and gender diverse workers in the Fairwork Act, has helped raise wages by the largest amount since 2013 and is currently campaigning for a 7% minimum wage increase. You can join these campaigns at australianunions.org.au/wow

Van and Ben discuss how the bosses lobby continues to fight against wage increases and even denies the role of profits in raising inflation.

The good news is about a new national park the size of Bali in Western Australia and we acknowledge our supporters who have gone to www.buymeacoffee.com/weekonwednesday to make a contribution towards growing the podcast.