Social and affordable housing should be seen as essential infrastructure for successful communities and developers have an important role to play. When the now abandoned Social and Affordable Housing Contribution was announced in Victoria, respected property players who in other forums had freely acknowledged that development contributions for social housing had a part to play went to ground. Instead, we heard the party line from the peaks that social housing is a community-wide problem demanding a community-wide response and not an opportunistic tax on those who build the houses we need.

The John Curtin Hotel on Lygon Street in Carlton is being sold to developers who will, most likely, demolish it to make way for apartments. While it isn’t contentious that the Melbourne metropolitan community needs more housing, the sale of The Curtin begs the question – are apartments really the highest and best use of this site? Would the gain in housing warrant the extinction of a storied pub which hosted the union gatherings, including the drinking feats of Bob Hawke, for generations?

By Dr Marcus Spiller: I am not a lawyer, but my understanding of the Mabo High Court decision (1992) is that it put paid once and for all to the proposition of Terra Nullius. Delusional invocation of this idea had allowed the British Crown to extend its law over this continent with no legal consequence in terms of the infringed sovereignty of those already in possession of the land.

A new research report sheds light on the economic wellbeing of Australia’s cities and regions exposing the challenges that communities faced during the 2020-21 financial year. The report shows that national growth reached 1.5% in 2020-21, but Australia’s economy was a roller coaster ride of economic shocks, relative calm, and buoyant recovery across the nation.

The Rental Affordability Index (RAI) 2021 exposes the increasing unaffordability of rental properties across Australia for lower-income households and shows that many renters are worse off than before the COVID-19 pandemic. There is currently no affordable rental housing in Australia for single pensioners, pensioner couples, people on JobSeeker, and single part-time working parents also on benefits, apart from in regional South Australia. Rental prices continue to soar across the regions...

Essential workers have been keeping Australia’s cities moving during the COVID-19 pandemic – and the structure of our cities has put many in harm's way. Urban policy needs to adapt quickly to address the underlying inequalities across Australia’s spatial geographies.