property 20 years lockout, page-98

But respected ANZ economist Saul Eslake has proved beyond doubt that when Paul Keating briefly abolished negative gearing in the 1980s rents rose only in Perth and Sydney, and that was mainly because of low vacancy rates.

Negative gearing costs taxpayers about $4 billion a year and this could be used to help young people get into the housing market.

Councils and state governments put all kinds of taxes and planning barriers on developers.

Compared with Europe, Australia's biggest cities are low-level and sparsely housed, and there are myriad ways of increasing density and lowering the cost of land.