August 7, 2009 Property

It never ceases to amaze me that there is so much vacant land in Australia yet we have a shortage of ‘affordable’ housing and unnecessarily high prices in all housing categories. Of course one doesn’t require a PhD to work out why. Left alone the market would easily rectify the situation but under the premise that people are incapable of making choices, the permanently ensconced and burgeoning political class go about their daily business of erecting an ever increasing variety of expensive to negotiate obstacles which they dutily defend as being in the public interest. And so we are systematically deprived of our rights (and cash) in the interests of a greater social good which is not always apparent to those of us who are engaged in actually producing the nation’s wealth.

I’m currently camping in the Cape Range national park near Exmouth, Western Australia, the largest and least populated Australian state. At 4,000km as the crow flies this is about as far away from home as I can get whilst staying in the country. In this part of the world it’s over 400km between towns (a short drive) through dry sparse scrubland able to carry few very hardy livestock. Anybody could be forgiven for thinking there would be some real freedom in this wilderness and true, there are probably some places you could hide for a while. But try to do anything more than breathe (which will no doubt soon be taxable) and you will be required to jump the various ‘public interest’ hurdles. The closer the town the greater the hurdles.

I suppose there’s a price one must pay to live in a small town like Exmouth (permanent population approx 2,000) but being more or less obliged to paint new buildings in the ‘council approved’ palette? A few months of wind and everything takes on a fine layer of red dust involuntarily rendering the whole place in sympathy with the surroundings. Meanwhile, a local business woman is packing up as increased housing and business costs are rendering her efforts marginal. Maybe her palette is wrong?

Just south of town the government sponsored $Squillion Exmouth Marina development stands virtually deserted. The project is managed by Landcorp, the W.A. government’s land and property developer:

“LandCorp is responsible for delivering land and infrastructure projects throughout Western Australia to help achieve economic and social prosperity for our State.”

Since when has a government really helped to achieve any prosperity? Maybe by throwing other peoples’ money at pet projects or reducing their meddling some big businesses get lucky but true prosperity is created by the private sector according to the following complex formula:

less government = more prosperity

The Landcorp ‘About Us’ page goes on:

“We create sustainable and vibrant places to work, live and play creating better places for future generations.”

That sounds great but doesn’t describe the dusty paddocks beside expensive idle marina berths that I cycled past last week. It wouldn’t be so bad if a private company had taken the risk of developing this vacant lot but no doubt taxpayers will be footing the bill in one way or another. Landcorp purports to operate as would a private enterprise but without the coercive power of the state behind them it is unlikely they would be able to operate at this risk level, if at all. On a positive note, the Novotel Hotel on the marina struck me as an impressive piece of modern outback architecture.

Even in these remote parts individual property rights are being increasingly eroded in favour of group think and central planning, now with extra green! No one is permitted to decide the circumstances under which they are prepared to live on private land. Not surprisingly it would be fair to say that development and planning policy is not universally appreciated. To some it might be considered a necessary evil but many are in fact hostile to government intervention in their private affairs. The Carnarvon Shire Council, about 400km south of Exmouth is particularly entertaining in their attempt to deal with recalcitrant residents and developers:

“An important role and function of local government is to plan, implement, administer and review the orderly and sustainable use, development and management of all land contained within its local government area.

This is a complex, comprehensive and time-consuming task. It is not always readily appreciated by both the citizens of the local government area and proponents of development, especially as to why it is needed and how the need arises."

Add ‘largely unnecessary’ to describe the time-consuming task and I’m sure most residents would agree with their premise, except perhaps why there must be ‘orderly and sustainable use’ of private freehold property. And who determines what is orderly and sustainable anyway? Government planning is not readily appreciated because it is of limited value. Otherwise it would not need to be administered by threat of penalty. The document further explains:

“Land use planning refers to the process or system by which land is allocated between competing and sometimes conflicting uses in order to secure the rational and orderly development of land in an environmentally sound manner to ensure the creation of sustainable human settlements.”

In addition to ‘orderly’ and ‘sustainable’ we now have ‘rational’ and the doubleplusgood descriptor ‘environmentally sound’! It’s a load of codswallop. A better explanation might be:

‘Land use planning refers to the process or system by which land is allocated on the basis of subjective assesment and environmental hocus pocus to ensure the creation of overpriced yet minimally built non descript conformity that will be bulldozed in about 50 years when there is another plan.’

Now I don’t want to pick on Carnarvon Council as they are merely representative of the nation wide charade. But when I first drove into the place my first thoughts were it would be just an overnight stop and indeed many people treat the town just that way. But after staying for several days I began to discover the charm of the place and wondered if it might ever see a return to prosperous times such as when it was a busy sea port for the numerous pastoral leases in the region. Maybe Carnarvon could benefit by pursuing a policy of ‘life, liberty and property’ in removing all but the most essential regulations required for the sake of public order. It might encourage investment.

Back home in the People’s Glorious Republic of Byron Bay one can often hear screams for ‘affordable’ housing emanating from the local newspaper the Pravda Echo. It doesn’t occur to the geniuses running the place and many of those who voted for them that housing, just like stone ground organically fermented farmhouse style free range chicken granola, is subject to the laws of supply and demand. Increased supply exerts downward pressure on prices. “But we don’t want the place to turn into a ghetto” was one response when I offered my simple solution in general conversation. ’I’ve got my piece of paradise so shut the doors’ seems to be the prevailing attitude.

The Byron Council apparently represents the wishes of the people by resisting development at any cost. And an enormous cost it turns out to be as expensive Land and Environment Court rulings are sought by disgruntled freehold property owners often to the detriment of the council’s coffers. But the real price of the town’s unwillingness to meet the demand for housing is paid by the erstwhile town dwellers (like the girls who make your WW bikinis) who find themselves and their families increasingly pushed to the fringes of the shire and beyond as the laws of supply and demand price them out of the local market.

A good number of properties are now owned by investors who visit for a few weeks of the year and holiday let their properties at other times. And of course the screams are heard about the evil rich who profiteer whilst destroying the community by letting their properties to noisy backpackers. Council should do something! Well the council has been doing something for quite a while and that’s why we have a problem. But hey, it’s better than having a whole lot more people moving into OUR town isn’t it?

And so wandering all over this fair land I can confirm Australia is indeed a very special and beautiful place. But this side of the continent is essentially the same as the other – just add two tablespoons of red dust.

Peter G.

While travelling I can be contacted by email

Gascoyne River at Carnarvon. There is still water below the sand which is pumped up by the agricultural properties along the banks.	Affordable housing.	One mile Jetty at Carnarvon. Note how a section is missing thanks to a purposely lit fire. Repairs were underway at the time and may even be completed by now if the workers' estimates were correct.	Rail siding at the Carnarvon jetty.
Quobba Point where we shot the August update featuring Kierina. The mobile office is parked on the road in the centre of view and there's a silver lookalike on the right. The sheds belong to Carnarvon locals and no doubt have served as holiday shacks for generations. Eventually they will be demolished but the owners will be permitted to build new 'chalets' in a proposed re-development of the area.	Quobba Station a pastoral lease producing sheep for meat.	Outback essentials: Car, water bore, satellite Internet connection.	Shell graveyard at the beach behind Quobba station house.
Balloon fishing on Quobba station about 2km north of the homestead. The helium balloon is attached so that it can run along the line. The offshore winds carry the balloon out and tugging on the line causes the bait to jump up out of the water attracting the fish. The balloon bursts when the fish strikes. This is referred to as land based game fishing.	I had just walked over to the rocks as Alan was baiting his hook. It seemed like the whole event was set for me to witness as no longer than 15 minutes after this shot Alan hooked a big one.	A Spanish Mackeral. Nice one Alan!	Red Bluff left, Gnaraloo Station right.
Red Bluff at the northern end of Quobba Station.	This red kangaroo is very tame and hangs around the managers residence with the kids. The manager said he wandered in from the bush one day and never left.	Coral Bay boat facility - Ningaloo Reef.	Exmouth Marina
Exmouth Marina. Hotel in the centre background.	Novotel entrance. Creative and appropriate landscaping for the region.	Hotel rooms. No this isn't a plug, I just liked the architecture. Besides, there's nothing much else here!	Yardie Creek is the last camp inside the Cape Range National Park. I camped for several nights just to the right of the creek. Wonderful camp hosts Frank and Merle. There are 8 camp spots at this location.
Osprey Camp a few km north of Yardie Creek. At time of writing the mobile office is parked just behind the caravan and annexe belonging to camp hosts Matt and Thelma. This is a wonderful spot and will be hard to leave. Camping in the national park is limited to 28 days as there are only 100 sites and a high demand. No facilities other than pit toilets so everything including water must be brought in. But at $6.50 per head per night it's represents some of the best value camping in the country. There are only 14 camp spots at this location. Exmouth is about 70km away for supplies and water.