Fair go, mate. Reader calls for less red tape so Aussies can build a home

When my parents married in 1949 they bought a block of land and lived in a tent on that land for the first few years, while building their dream home.

It was done one weekend at a time with the help of friends and family, all while starting a family of their own.

I visited that home recently and after 72 years it's still one of the best homes in the street. Today it houses another young family starting out on their journey through life.

That home, so simply built, is far superior to the miners' cottages the Bendigo Heritage Council seem so keen to preserve.

Today you cannot build such a home, in such a manner. Any new home built in Bendigo now must have an Energy Star rating, a Fire Safety rating and certifications of every kind - each costing thousands of extra dollars.

While on the other hand Bendigo miner's cottages, which represent some of the worst examples of housing construction imaginable, must be preserved at all cost. How do bureaucrats justify this?

Every Australian deserves a fair go and that means giving young people the opportunity to build their own home, in their own time; to the standard they can afford.

By continually adding more restrictions, more conditions and more requirements, year after year; our building regulators have strangled their own industry to near a stand-still.

Our governments and our bureaucracies are to blame for this.

We gave them power and responsibility and they failed us by focussing on their own self importance and self interest.

In view of the housing shortage we are currently experiencing it would seem sensible and fair to begin by compromising and loosening some statutory regulations.

Local councils have the power to allow a home builder to live on their land while building their own home.

My parents' tent did not have running water or sewage but these basic modern essentials can be provided to a simple shed dwelling for the first few years.

This would give those desiring a home the chance to build one. It's not impossible. It's just a matter of getting it done. Not talking about it. Getting it done.

In the case of local councils, this means simply allowing it to happen.

Laura Tingle and her cohorts at the ABC are exactly the reason this once exemplary TV station is now rarely watched by a large proportion of people in Australia.

The Allan Labor Government's $400 School Saving Bonus is blatantly inequitable and its unfairness really hits home for regional Victorians.

All students in government schools are immediately approved to receive the bonus, yet incredibly those in low-fee Catholic and independent schools miss out.

There's a clear divide. Why should hard-working families be penalised for the choice of their school?

To put it bluntly, high-income families with children in government schools are set to receive this bonus with no questions asked.

Meanwhile, families in regional areas who choose to send their children to non-government, low-fee schools are being cut out.

In many regional low-fee Catholic schools, more than 50 per cent of the students come from disadvantaged families. It doesn't make sense to shun them.

The Allan Labor Government must rethink this decision if they genuinely care and intend to support regional Victorians.

Labor can't manage money and regional Victorians are paying the price.

The Nationals are taking action, launching a Fair School Bonus campaign.

I urge you to support our campaign by visiting this link vicn.at/schoolsavingbonus

I write to your newspaper on behalf of the not-for-profit Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia (MIFA) with a very specific request.

We are urging all your readers impacted in any way by mental illness issues to reach out and seek help. We know that at the current time there are 154,000 people with a severe and complex mental illness who are - in essence - missing out on support.

We have a very strong view at MIFA that it is time to do better. Without doubt, Australia's current mental health system is fragmented and sadly utterly dysfunctional.

People with mental illness issues, which includes schizophrenia, have been woefully neglected by governments. It has been going on for literally decades.

Too many people with mental illness are falling through the gaps and are not getting the right support when they actually need it.

It is estimated that half the people living in the community with schizophrenia get no community support whatsoever. It is just not good enough.

As part of our awareness initiative, we want to highlight that the vast majority of violence that happens in the community - around 96 per cent - is carried out by people who do not experience a complex mental health situation.

We would like to emphasise it is critical that if you are affected by a mental illness issue, you reach out and get the support you need.

The Mental Illness Fellowship of Australia has a key not-for-profit network called Finding North. It has become a growing community on the internet, to link people with mental health issues with others in a similar situation, so they can share their experiences.

To get more information, just go to findingnorth.org.au