My politics isn't defined by today's headlines.
But these things matter to you right now, so this is how I'd help.
It's a bit expensive these days.
Unfortunately, a government, especially a state government, can't change this as much as you or I might like. Wars, shipping and interest rates make the whole economy thing start to complain. Structural change to one of our biggest expenses is the way to go: housing.
It's rough being the middle man
Property managers usually take 5% or more of every rent payment, and they're paid a percentage of the rent. So every rent rise is a pay rise for the agent. It's no surprise that they're the ones pushing for increases.
Renting is a lot fairer in Victoria now. No-fault evictions and rent bidding are banned, and you get 90 days' notice of a rent increase. Those rules also make the job simpler for a landlord who manages their own property, because everyone is playing by the same rules.
I want to make self-managing a rental easy, and AI can do most of the heavy lifting. That means the forms, the reminders for safety checks, bond lodgement and a plain-English answer when you're not sure what the law says.
There's a human side too. As a locksmith, I've seen how long a simple repair takes when a request goes from renter to agent to landlord to tradie and back. When the renter can just text the landlord, things get fixed.
I'd also hope a direct connection between renter and landlord means more consideration going both ways.
The Goal
A free, state-run tool for self-managing landlords, building on the RTBA's online bond system, that covers compliance, reminders and the forms.
A local tradie directory with licence checks and real customer reviews, so finding someone skilled and reliable is easy.
Potholes
Yeah, it turns out I don't know enough to really weigh in here. It's much more complicated than I expected, and I lost a few hours finding that out.
If I end up in a position to actually help, I'll get back to you.
Crime and youth justice
Ah, Sweden: one of the few countries where I'll entertain the argument that it might be better than Australia. You'd be wrong, but I'd listen.
They've had a youth crime problem that really unnerved me, and it's very hard to tackle.
It's not all smiles and spaghett
Sweden is one of the safest, most liberal countries on earth, but that came with a trade-off (as all things do). They recognised the real harm of locking up children and moved to limit it.
Unfortunately, that created a gap. By their teens, kids can be quite capable, and they can be tricked into committing more and more serious crimes. The trap is simple. A kid is offered "hundreds of thousands" for a job, but first they have to send a photo of their passport. Now the criminals know who they are, where they live and who their family is. Any hesitation is met with threats, and very real ones. There are always other kids they might trick.
It's already happening here. During Melbourne's tobacco wars, kids were paid as little as $500 to set a shop on fire.
What stops crime isn't how long the sentence is. It's how sure and how quick the consequences are. A kid who's arrested and back out the same afternoon learns that nothing happens.
Right now, a judge can hesitate to detain a young person because the places we'd send them are understaffed, run-down, or give them an education we'd rather they didn't get.
I want youth justice centres that are nice, and I mean that. Many of these kids haven't been convicted, but losing your freedom is a consequence in itself. Trust me. As a locksmith, I've let people out of their own 10th-floor apartments when the front door lock failed. Even somewhere they chose to be, not being able to leave meant something.
Despite what some want you to think, locking people up rarely gets the long-term outcome you want. They get out eventually.
The Goal
Nice youth justice centres that are the real intervention they're meant to be, with wrap-around services that actually prevent reoffending.
Stiffer sentences for recruiters: tough penalties for any adult who uses a child to commit a crime, and a genuine effort to extradite recruiters from the countries that harbour them.
Teach kids and parents the warning signs, starting with one rule: never send anyone a photo of your ID.
Yes, I'm annoyed that online age checks now ask for exactly that.
My old site
I like to be as transparent as possible, so here's my old website.
I built that one myself with Squarespace. The one before it, I paid someone to make. This time, I made it with AI. That neatly sums up what's happening to the "new jobs" of the modern economy.
Some of my thinking has changed since, and this site is the up-to-date version.