Social Trends – Page 3 – Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog

The Misinformation Bill Is Dead [Again]!

The Albanese government has dumped its controversial mis- and disinformation bill, conceding there is “no pathway” to getting the proposal passed through the Senate.

The communications minister, Michelle Rowland, insisted misinformation and disinformation remained a grave concern for democracy, national security and online safety, but said the government would not proceed with the proposal. It is the second time Labor has pulled the bill, after an initial version also failed to gain support and raised concerns about freedom of speech online.

“Based on public statements and engagements with senators, it is clear that there is no pathway to legislate this proposal through the Senate,” Rowland said on Sunday.

As I discussed in previous shows, the mis- and disinformation bill would have put legal obligations on social media platforms to address false, misleading or deceptive content, or content reasonably likely to cause serious harm, as well as equip the Australian Communications and Media Authority to regulate such content. However it was strongly opposed by a wide range of bodies including human rights organisations, church groups and libertarian groups, as well as many of the non-government members of parliament.
A first version of the legislation was redrafted in a bid to win wider support, but the second attempt also failed to garner parliamentary backing or assuage wider concerns from critics. The Coalition has long pledged to oppose the bill, while all other members of the Senate crossbench had said in recent days they would either vote it down or were not yet sufficiently convinced to vote for it.

The Australian Human Rights Commission said back in October that “although there have been improvements to the bill, freedom of expression is not sufficiently protected”.

That leaves the age of under 16 ban on access to social media still in play, and it looks like this legislation will pass this week despite major flaws in the bill, and concerns it could be a back door to wider social media access controls. As I discussed recently this bill is also deeply flawed, but Labour is after a win, any win politically speaking before the election.

The short time-frame and rushed consideration of the Bill means it is likely to be of poor quality. Given the importance of the issues contained in the legislation, a more detailed and longer path is required to ensure the best approach possible is developed.

Given the proximity of the next election is appears that political considerations are driving the time-frames, and for the reasons outlined above, the Bill in its current guise should not be passed into law.

http://www.martinnorth.com/

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Homeless; Renters Punished And Perth Is Worse Than Sydney!

Last week I published a show titled “The rental stress pips are squeaking” where I did a deep dive into rising rental stress across the country, to underscore the crisis we have in the rental sector. I called it the hidden crisis, because we get massive coverage of mortgage stress in the mainstream, media but rental stress not so much.

To underscore the crisis, new modelling from Impact Economics and Policy, a group of expert economists and policy specialists, estimates that back in 2022, as many as 3.2 million people were at risk of homelessness across the country, where one negative shock could result in them losing their home. This represents a 63% increase between 2016 and 2022 in the number of Australians at risk of homelessness.

A recent survey showed that 39% of Specialist Homelessness Services had to close their doors to people seeking help because they were unable to cope. With the homelessness services unable to cope despite the increase in people needing help, not enough are being assisted, and many are not even seeking help because they know they won’t get through.

Now, SGS Economics and Planning has release the tenth edition of the Rental Affordability Index (RAI) today, which shows that since 2015, rental affordability has declined in most cities, limiting where people can live and work and reshaping communities nationwide. Once affordable areas like South West Sydney and South East Melbourne are now increasingly out of reach for average rental households. Their analysis based on a different approach aligns with what I have been reporting.

The report lands as the Albanese government struggles to get support to pass two key housing bills, dismissing a last minute offer from the Greens as more about politics than progress.

http://www.martinnorth.com/

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Is It Inter-Generational War Then?

OK folks a rant warning. It seems you are better placed financially and socially, if you are old with property compared with being young with none or a massive mortgage! And its structural thanks to bad policy across the board. One reason why younger people are turning away from the major Uniparty.

If you are one of the many thousands of younger Australians struggling to try and get on the property ladder, you will already know there is a war on youth, thanks to mass immigration, a permanent per capita recession, the rent shock, the energy shock, unaffordable homes, crushed wages, rampaging mortgage repayments, destroyed and expensive education, plus a ruined built environment a wrecked natural environment, oh and a dying planet.

But Older Australians are in a completely different world. CBA says Australians are freeing up more of their wallet for discretionary purchases with a focus on value and convenience, according to the latest CommBank iQ Cost of Living Insights analysis. Overall spending continues to trail inflation, up by just 1.5 per cent compared to the same time last year.

The combination of higher prices and mortgage rates has pushed the percentage of median household disposable income spent on mortgage repayments on a median-priced home to a record high of 50.6% nationally.

But on another planet, far, far away, cash sales in property surged 14 per cent to $138 billion across NSW, Victoria and Queensland over the past financial year, fuelled by wealthy downsizers, retirees and investors, a new report shows.

So it’s better to be old, with property, than young with no property or a massive mortgage, and the intergenerational gap is continuing to grow. Trouble is, unless things change trends are set to deteriorate further. Sure if you have parents with property who will fall off the perch sometime in the future, you may gat a look in, but if not, permanent renting is the order of the day. So much for the Australian dream of property ownership.

http://www.martinnorth.com/

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

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