According to the public policy focused McKell Institute, twenty years ago it took three times the median salary to buy a house in Sydney. Now it takes nine times, a higher ratio than in London or New York at the peak of the market.
Paul Katz (1957-2014), who suddenly died on November 20 following a brief battle with cancer, was one of the world’s great architects. In his 57 years Katz moved from his native South Africa and studies in Israel and the United States to become the global leader of architects Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), overseeing some of the most exciting and innovative designs of any firm anywhere, realising many of the world’s tallest buildings and most significant urban renewal projects.
One of the quiet achievements of Australian public policy during the past decade has been our skilled migration program. Under successive governments it has become focused on delivering the skills Australia needs when it needs them.
The debate on immigration is at cross purposes. Australia should be proud of its skilled migration program. It should also champion the development, training and employment of its own people as an overarching priority. Both policies fit together. Any assertion otherwise, or muddying of the waters to the contrary, is wrong.
Michael O’Sullivan was leader of the Federated Clerks Union, a superannuation pioneer and a corporate governance advocate. He was the chair of the $7 billion CareSuper fund (a director from 1996 to 2012) and president for a decade to 2011 of the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors.
One of the surprises of Australian political history is that a government derided, traduced, and trounced in a smashing electoral defeat has over the passage of time come to be regarded as more substantial and worthy. A just account of the Whitlam government (1972-1975), however, requires acknowledgement of both certain grandeur and certain incompetence.
Michael Maher was greatly admired across the political spectrum as a diligent, local MP who saw the vocation of politics as serving the people.
Port Moresby’s population is still small, although it is growing rapidly. Within 50 years, it is easy to imagine a city of significant size, up from the present 250,000 to one million, or even several millions.
There are estimated to be more than 214 million immigrants in the world. They make up about 3 per cent of the world’s population, a figure that has remained steady over the past few decades.
Ross, Lloyd Maxwell (1901-1987), labour intellectual, WEA tutor union official and writer, was born on February 28, 1901 in Brisbane, son of Robert (Bob) Samuel and Ethel (nee Slaughter) Ross. Another son, Edgar was born in 1903.