Category: A sustainable economy

Food supplies at risk from price speculation, warns expert

admin /22 August, 2009

Food supplies at risk from price speculation, warns expert Global food markets must be regulated to avoid speculators creating panic with artificial prices rises, says the head of the International Food Policy Research Institute   Jonathan Watts, Asia environment correspondent guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 19 August 2009 14.59 BST Article history The world food market is still Continue Reading →

Porritt blasts Treasury ‘arrogance’

admin /5 July, 2009

Porritt blasts Treasury ‘arrogance’   Ruth Sunderland The Observer, Sunday 5 July 2009 Article history Jonathon Porritt, one of Britain’s leading environmentalists, has attacked the Treasury for being “startlingly arrogant” and for dragging its feet over sustainability. This month Porritt steps down as chairman of the Sustainable Development Commission, an independent government watchdog, after occupying Continue Reading →

US starts bulldozing suburbs

admin /28 June, 2009

Fifty cities in the US have been earmarked for radical reconstruction as part of a plan to revitalise America’s rust belt. The plan involves the bulldozing of sprawling suburbs in economically depressed cities to revitalise community, reduce transport and infrastructure requirements and ensure food security. The plan was developed for Flint, sixty miles north of Continue Reading →

Woolworths loses another community battle

admin /14 June, 2009

Food, alcohol and gambling giant, Woolworths, is struggling to establish a foothold in another small community with last week’s decision by Byron Shire Council to delay approval of a development application pending the answer to 12 significant questions over the development of a supermarket in Mullumbimby. The corporation is now engaged in battles over developments Continue Reading →

Affordable housing scheme supports developers

admin /14 June, 2009

As the National Rental Affordability Scheme announced last November rolls out, critics from both the welfare and finance sector point out that it is doing little to assist those in dire need of accommodation or to increase the development of affordable housing. A consensus is emerging that it is part of a broader plan to prop up property developers and retail banks. A house estimates committee hearing reported that almost no new housing has been built in response to the scheme and the $6billion is being used to purchase existing units that developers are having trouble selling. The scheme was introduced at the same time as alterations to foreign ownership laws that allow foreign buyers to purchase existing dwellings that are not selling in an attempt to shore up prices.

Take-up of First Home saver Accounts small, money remains unspent

admin /5 June, 2009

Take-up of First Home Saver Accounts small, money remains unspent

By Malcolm Farr

The Daily Telegraph

June 06, 2009 12:01am

 

Not a winner … the scheme was meant to make $1.1 billion available in subsidies and tax concessions over five years. Picture: Tracee Lea

  • Only 11,000 First Home Saver accounts
  • Predictions there would be 730,000 by 2012
  • Money “would be better spent elsewhere”

ONLY 11,000 First Home Saver Accounts have been opened despite predictions they would put 220,000 additional Australians on their way to owning real estate by the end of this month.

The scheme was meant to make $1.1 billion available in subsidies and tax concessions over five years to help young people save house deposits.

But since the FHSAs became available in October last year, the take-up has been embarrassingly small and most of the money is unspent, The Daily Telegraph reports.

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