An Old Codger’s Thoughts & Opinions

In an attempt to assist those people renting and having problems in meeting their weekly rent payments the Queensland Green Party has proposed a 2% per annum rent freeze, arguing inflationary pressures has caused rent/wage ratio to become “out of balance”. The Greens continued to say “Rents are out of control, millions of Australian renters are struggling to pay the rent”.

Whilst people renting may be struggling to pay their rent, the rate of rent increase is not the problem.

Queensland Premier Ms Annastacia Palaszczuk has revealed the state government is “very seriously” considering introducing a price cap on private rentals.

Following a push by the Queensland Government over a period of time Queensland’s population grew at the fastest rate in the country last year (2.1 per cent), with one Brisbane area absorbing over 14,000 new residents during the Covid-19 pandemic years.

During this period there has been a dearth of infrastructure provided to keep up to the growing population.

In Brisbane, rental growth was 12.1% over the decade to June 2022, compared to cumulative inflation of 25.6% over the same period. Much has been reported about “those greedy landlords”. It should be remembered that “those greedy landlords firstly have to purchase the property to rent and pay the mortgage. Interest rates continue to rise. They have to pay property manager fees, which also continue to rise as rents rise, as do local council rates and property insurance.

The State Government also collects land tax. This has become more direct of late as the property land valuation increases so does the land tax. The point at where land tax is paid has not risen for many years whilst land valuations have continued to rise at an ever increasing rate, each and every year. The government is happy to collect the extra tax in silence. Then there are costs associated with minimum maintenance requirements. With recent changes there are a number of necessary safety compliance matters, water efficiency compliance, annual fire alarm inspections to remain compliant.

The Queensland Property Council slam the policy as misguided. A cap on rents was bad policy and would make the rental problem even worse by discouraging investment in rental housing and reducing supply. A rental cap could force some landlords to sell up reducing the number of houses available to the rental market. When those properties are sold, where do the renters go then?

During this time Queensland Government records show that dozens of eligible public housing homes have sat vacant up to 600 days.

The Queensland rental problem could be made worse if the government move forward with their plan to cap rental prices in the state.

Premier Anna - “shoot the messenger at your own peril”. After all it was State Governments who initially dropped the social housing ball!

Truthful tells us about his going to church last Sunday. The Priest asked the congregation if anyone would like to express praise for an answered prayer. His neighbour Suzie stood and said “I have praise. Two months ago, my husband Frank, had a bicycle accident and his scrotum was crushed.”

You could hear the men in the congregation gasp.

“Frank was in terrible pain and could not hold me or our children. We prayed as the doctors performed a delicate operation which involved wiring Frank’s scrotum back together.”

Again the men cringed and squirmed as they imagined the horrible surgery performed on Frank.

“Now the doctors say that with time Frank’s scrotum will heal completely”.

All the men sighed in relief. The Priest then asked if anyone else had anything to say. A man stood up and said “Hello, I am Frank and I would just like to tell my wife that the word is sternum”.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.