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Greater-Melbourne has a strong, blue-collar, manufacturing sector which employs 197,705 people; this is 21.9% of Australia’s entire manufacturing sector. A further 84,600 Melbourne jobs are in Transport and Warehousing, and one would argue that these are heavily reliant on manufacturing.

Manufacturing is to Melbourne what coal is to Brisbane and iron ore is to Perth.

After decades of government-funded life support, in May 2013 Ford was the first to announce its factory closure from October 2016. Within less than twelve months, Holden and Toyota had also announced closures of their factories in 2017.

For the ten (10) year period to the end of 2011, there were 35,226 new dwellings approved in Greater-Melbourne each year. The average annual building approvals over the last four (4) years is 12,000 dwellings higher, even though Melbourne’s population growth has been much the same.

According to official ATO records, 30% of all Australian residential dwellings receive rental income. The other 70% of dwellings are occupied by the owner (whether mortgaged or debt free).

For as far back as history books can take us, Australian governments have not had the capacity to fund properties that make up the rental pool for what has become the fastest growing population in the developed world. Governments are flat out trying fund essential infrastructure such as roads, hospitals, ports, and public transport.