Less than a week till the conference starts

It is less than a week now till the conference starts in Melbourne. My impressions of Australia's housing situation are deepening. The complexity of Federal Government adds a new dimension. Currently the Federal (or Commonwealth as it is also known) government is in dispute with New South Wales. The federal govt stepped up money to pensioners in benefits - worth about 30 dollars a week. NSW are about to put the rents in govt properties up by 7.50 a week. Hence the people the FG were trying to help... NSW argue it is the only way they can raise funds to maintain homes and build new ones. You get the picture? Sound familiar?Next week I will want to share my first impressions of the World Social Enterprise Forum where I will be joined by a dozen other Scots. Watch this space.."

First Week...

I have been a week in Australia and already feel immersed in housing systems! The Australian dream is of the red brick house set in its own quarter acre of land. So what you have in Sydney is a city the size of Greater London with a quarter of the population. Urban sprawl. Or, speaking as a visitor, the whole place feels like one big suburb.The madness of unregulated housing markets here has also been damaging and affordability is a major issue. There is a significantly sized private sector in renting. Quality is at best a question mark from what I can see. Thankfully community (housing association type organisations) and public (local authorities and state government) housing has received a major boost from the Federal government and large building programmes for subsidised housing are currently underway.Housing certainly gets everyone talking. But today the big topic is the weather. The worst dust storms in 70 years. We were up at 6am and to say the sky was orange would be an understatement. Tons of top soil from the west blowing over the area, while Kevin Rudd and his team are working on climate change diplomacy in the USA. It feels very fitting and reminds me of the very real importance of ensuring that housebuilding and climate change policies are integrated.That's it for now folks. Am off out to see the yellow (so they are saying on the radio) opera house ...

Getting ready to go...

Today is my last day in the office before embarking on the Australian trip about which I am getting very excited. The study tours look really interesting and it will be great to meet up with the rest of the Scottish delegation in Melbourne on the 5th October. More later....