The need for a tsunami housing solution
New figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics have revealed that the fastest growing age cohort continues to be Australians between 75 to 79 years old, sparking the Retirement Living Council to renew calls for retirement communities.
The organisation stated that the Australian government must include retirement communities as a key delivery component in its national housing accord target to build 1.2 million new homes by 2029.
RLC executive director Daniel Gannon said that retirement communities could help solve the housing crisis, and the governments need to better understand the potential benefits of retirement villages.
“With an annual growth rate of 6.7 per cent, the 75–79-year-old age group significantly outpaces all other demographics with an overall growth rate of 2.5 per cent,” Gannon said.
It’s three steps back for the Master Plumbers Association
The plumbers are getting boring. They can’t stop fulminating against gas no matter the facts, no matter the trends.
Latest salvo from this cohort who would still have plenty to do with fixing leaking water pipes and busted toilet cisterns not to mention the damage that climate flooding will perpetrate, was no surprise.
They attacked Wentworth’s federal teal MP Allegra Spender who has urged the federal government to implement a gas ban on new developments across Australia, following Victoria and ACT’s ban on gas connections to new developments kicking in at the beginning of this year. Some New South Wales city councils, such as the City of Sydney and Waverly Council, plan to follow suit.
Master Plumbers Association chief executive Nathaniel Smith called Spender’s statement a “ridiculous sign of virtue signalling”.
Smith, who was the former Liberal Member for Wollondilly for four years, lost the last federal election to local independent member Judy Hannan, who advocated for stronger sustainability and climate policies, including “no new coal or gas developments.”
Sustainability Victoria Unboxed Project
With consumers becoming increasingly concerned with the amount of waste food creates before it even arrives at the grocery shelf, Sustain: The Australian Food Network has partnered with produce distributors Natoora Melbourne to pilot a reusable crate scheme to explore and expand practices to reduce waste in this stage of the food cycle.
The “Unboxed” project connects agroecological growers, restaurants, and markets with a number of small Victorian producers to help understand the packaging waste problem.
The program will help bigger businesses, particularly agriculture, where slim margins and changing systems can be incredibly expensive. Since January 2023, collaborative efforts between the two organisations have helped reduce 14.4 tons of cardboard waste by introducing 960 reusable crates into the supply chain.
The Victorian Government’s Circular Economy Communities Fund will support the project.