In the 1980s, the average house cost four times the median national income. Now it costs nine times. Young people are losing hope of ever owning their own home, while more and more older Australians are now at risk of homelessness. The major parties got us into the housing crisis and now they need to act with far more urgency to get us out.

If only we lived in a country with lots of sparsely populated land, year-round sunshine, endless windy coastlines, established solar, hydro and wind industries, and billions of dollars of private investment lined up and ready to go.