Prosper Australia’s latest Speculative Vacancies data update reveals a 16% rise – to 31,890 – in totally empty homes in Melbourne over the past year. This rise in empty dwellings has undermined the benefit from new housing supply coming online. Including a further 69,055 underused homes, the total climbs to 100,945. This figure speaks to […]
Prosper Australia submission to Inquiry into Local Government Funding and Fiscal Sustainability (House of Representatives Standing Committee on Regional Development, Infrastructure and Transport) – 19 November 2025 Introduction Prosper Australia welcomes the Committee’s examination of local government funding and the relationship between local government and other tiers of government. Our submission outlines three key points […]
Prosper Australia today welcomed the inclusion of a stamp duty to land tax transition in Infrastructure Victoria’s new strategy but criticised the absence of value capture as a sustainable and equitable funding mechanism. “We applaud Infrastructure Victoria’s endorsement of a broad-based annual land tax. This reform recognises that shifting the tax base from transactions to […]
Australia’s total land value has soared past $10 trillion, according to new ABS data — yet ordinary workers continue to shoulder most of the nation’s tax load. Prosper Australia says the figures highlight the need to rebalance the tax system so that unearned gains from land and natural resources contribute their fair share. “Australia’s land […]
134th Henry George Commemorative Dinner Address by John Alexander OAM, Kelvin Club, Melbourne, 4th September 2025. Joe Langley, Prosper Australia Secretary and MC: It’s my pleasure to introduce John Alexander to you tonight. John was a member of the House of Representatives from 2010 to 2022, during which time he led a number of key […]
Ross Gittins wins 2025 E.J. Craigie Writing Award for the best article reflecting the ideas of Henry George. Prosper Australia is pleased to announce Economics Editor for The Age/Sydney Morning Herald, Ross Gittins, as the recipient of the E.J. Craigie Writing Award for 2025 for his article: Productivity Commission wants our big mining companies to […]
The Economic Reform Roundtable is ostensibly all about productivity. Treasurer Jim Chalmers has argued that cutting red tape and speeding up approvals is the key to unlocking growth. It’s the old trickle-down idea made new again by Ezra Klein’s book Abundance: make it easier to build, and prosperity will follow. It’s an appealing story. But […]
Summary To improve productivity Australia needs to shift taxes off work and enterprise and onto the economic rents from land, natural resources, and monopolies. This principle should be at the heart of any economic reform agenda. Income tax should be rebalanced to favour productive effort over unearned gains, beginning by scrapping CGT concessions. States should […]