Australia’s airwaves are a public resource — not a freebie for billionaires. SpaceX threatening to withhold services unless it gets spectrum for free is brinkmanship, plain and simple. The spectrum is finite & valuable. It should be allocated transparently & deliver a return to the public. #auspol

Aus owns its gas yet we see little for it even in a boom. Profit-based taxes are easy to game & a 25% levy as proposed by David Pocock is too blunt. We prefer scaled royalties: higher when prices surge, lower when they fall Cameron Murray writes: www.prosper.org.au/2026/04/how-... #auspol

The Victorian windfall gains tax is an excellent piece of policy that captures value created by the community instead of hitting the pockets of a lucky minority. So, of course, the property council hates it. Rayna jumped on 3CR to explain. www.3cr.org.au/thursday-bre...

Prosper is kicking off 2026 with an online members' event. We’ll share our priorities for the year ahead with time for questions and discussion. With members across the country, this is one step toward more online connections. We’re keen to hear your ideas too. www.eventbrite.com/e/online-mem...

There’s nothing illegal about leaving a cabana empty for hours — it’s just rude. Which is why Australians instantly understand why empty homes during a housing shortage don’t sit right either. Same instinct. Same problem. Bigger consequences. www.theage.com.au/national/vic... (paywall)

Just because land is zoned for housing doesn’t mean homes get built. Land banking proliferates when land values aren’t taxed. Why build when you can profit by doing nothing? Land tax changes the incentive: use it productively or pay a holding price. www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01...

READ: Progress #1135 Australia is brilliant at creating value through public effort. Too often, it escapes. Land value capture offers a fairer way to fund infrastructure and housing. Have you thought about how much value could be captured for all of us?

Prosper Summer Content Guide If you’re looking for thoughtful company over summer, we’ve pulled together a guide to writers and podcasters exploring land, housing, and how we share prosperity. www.prosper.org.au/2... What’s on your summer reading list?

PROGRESS out now: Value capture or value escape? When public investment creates value, who should benefit? This edition explores land value capture for funding infrastructure and improving housing affordability — without taxing productive work.

"Queensland’s LNP government will expand tax breaks for foreign housing investors in an attempt to boost construction, less than a week after introducing draft laws to allow developers to make political donations in state elections." 🤔 www.theage.com.au/politics/que...

Last chance to book your spot at our end of year drinks. See you Thursday! Book here: www.prosper.org.au/2...

LISTEN: Prosper's Rayna Fahey jumped on air yesterday with Raf Epstein to discuss the latest empty homes data. Totally empty homes up 16% while tens of thousands of Victorians are without a home to call their own. www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBSa...

📢 The increase in empty properties last year was enough to effectively wipe out one in every nine newly built homes, one expert says.

Totally empty homes in Melbourne are up 16% In 2024, 31,890 homes sat completely empty. Add 69,000 underused homes, and that’s 100,000+ homes lying idle while people sleep on the streets. Yes, we need more homes—but we can’t ignore the ones we already have. The solution? 1/2

Join us next week for a night of celebration and connection at Prosper’s End of Year members and Supporter’s night on December 4th! Tickets available for members and supporters here. www.prosper.org.au/2...

@jacktoohey.bsky.social doing a fabulous job of pointing out the opportunity costs of Australia's housing investment obsession www.smh.com.au/national/the...

Great piece from @birdyword.bsky.social on Mamdani and a mayoral candidate from a century before: Henry George. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...

Infrastructure Vic’s new strategy backs replacing stamp duty with a land tax. However, value capture is missing from the strategy as a key funding mechanism. Land value bonanzas from infrastructure are as old as Victoria, yet we let those gains flow to a lucky few instead of the public good. 🧵

We look forward to seeing how this inquiry examines the role of speculation in housing. Housing supply can’t just be left to a market driven by profit. We need homes, not just wealth creation. #TaxShift #AusPol

Great piece from Simon Kuestenmacher exploring a question we often ask: who are rising house prices good for? High land prices result in an opportunity cost, and for many in our society, that is an opportunity for a place to live. www.thenewdaily.com.au/opinion/2025...

Australia’s land wealth now exceeds $10 trillion, yet most Aussies are still paying the bulk of taxes on their labour. Other resource-rich nations reinvest unearned gains for the public, we let them flow largely untaxed to private owners. 📊: ABS ASNA, Table 61 2024-25 1/3

Australia’s tax settings reward property speculation and punish affordability. At the Henry George Commemorative Address, John Alexander OAM argued for shifting the focus back to housing as shelter. Full video & transcript: www.prosper.org.au/2...

High-speed rail is more than transport, it is a national settlement strategy. But funding it requires value capture, so the uplift in land values contributes to the public investment that created it. Full video & transcript: www.prosper.org.au/2...

Faster trains? Here’s how. At Prosper’s Henry George Dinner, John Alexander OAM explained why value capture is essential for funding infrastructure and making housing serve as shelter, not speculation. Watch & read: www.prosper.org.au/2...

Congratulations to Ross Gittins from @sydmorningherald.bsky.social and The Age winner of the 2025 E.J. Craigie Award for the best #georgist article for the year. READ: prosper.org.au/2025/09/este... #rossgittins #craigieaward

Last call for tickets to the Henry George Annual Commemorative Address & Dinner. As cities grow and regions expand, the cost of infrastructure soars. Governments face rising debts — unless they harness value capture to fund growth fairly. BOOK: www.eventbrite.com.au/e/134th-annu...

100! Thank you to all our followers who have joined us since we started on Bluesky. That’s 100 reminders that value comes from community. Thanks for being part of ours.

When we invest in transport, health & education, land values surge. That’s why value capture isn’t a tax – it’s a dividend from our shared investment. #auspol 1/2

Sydney’s Metro handed landowners a $7.4B free ride. Taxpayers pay for the project → landlords pocket the gains. Value capture would recycle that windfall back into public investment. WATCH: www.youtube.com/watch?v=8w_8... #auspol #taxreform

Day 3 of the Roundtable and tax reform is finally on the agenda. The test: will we recognise that productivity gains come when we shift taxes off earned incomes & onto unearned ones? Every high-performing economy gets this right. We should too. We need a tax shift. #auspol prosper.org.au/taxshift

Saudi Arabia increases vacant land tax to 10%. Can't argue with that if you're a landowner. You have to do something with it or sell, quickly! www.thenationalnews.com/business/pro...

Here's a chart we would've liked to have seen in the briefing docs for participants in the Roundtable. But there seems to be little focus on addressing wealth inequality. Instead, the elephants are left stomping around the room. We need a tax shift. www.prosper.org.au/taxshift/ #auspol

Economic productivity depends not just on labour and capital, but on how effectively land and resources are put to use. 1/6

WATCH: What is the economic answer to the question: why are houses built? Tim Helm has been working with @drcameronmurray to explore the current theories and see how effective they are at answering the question. www.youtube.com/watc...

Nominate for the 2025 Craigie Award In an economy where large amounts of wealth is made not by work, but by monopolising land & resources, inequality grows and opportunity shrinks. That's a story worth telling, and we celebrate those that do. www.prosper.org.au/a...

Join us for the 134th Henry George Dinner. Keynote by John Alexander OAM: Regional development, high-speed rail & value capture: a bipartisan way forward. Sept 4 · The Kelvin Club, Melbourne www.prosper.org.au/h... #HenryGeorge #ValueCapture #HighSpeedRail #ProsperAustralia

The Treasury has announced the details of the consultation period for the Productivity Roundtable. Treasurer Chalmers has welcomed all ideas for the table and Prosper encourages all Australians to have their say.

SEMINAR: Zoning, housing supply, & affordability – empirics without a theory? Is upzoning a solution to the housing crisis—or a windfall for landowners? Join us for a seminar exploring the economic realities of zoning reform, presented by Tim Helm. www.prosper.org.au/2025/07/semi...

It is time to stop blaming the victims of a system they didn’t build and start changing rules and structures. We know what to do. The question is whether our politics has the will and who it will listen to. #auspol #economy

Ouch.

📉 Fewer landlords? That could mean more homes for owner-occupiers — but it’s not that simple. A drop in investors declaring rental income doesn’t mean those properties have hit the market. As Prosper’s Rayna Fahey says, “When someone sells a house, it doesn't disappear.”

Productivity gains always ends up capitalising into land prices. Without structural tax reform, we’re rewarding landholders while undermining the very workers and businesses driving growth. We need a #TaxShift www.prosper.org.au/2025/06/tax-...

Reminder: Our post-election members & supporters event is this Thursday. Hope to see you there! www.prosper.org.au/2...

Everyone's talking about Victoria's new Emergency Services Levy — but the real problem is how we decide what’s taxed. Buildings and sheds cop it. Vacant land gets a free ride. We make the case for shifting the base. prosper.org.au/2025/05/the-... #SiteValueRating #ESVF #VicPol

EVENT: Post-election Members & Supporters Night Join us as we discuss the election results, the opportunities for tax reform, & to share your ideas on ways we can communicate our unique perspective. 📅 Thurs 5th June, 6pm, Prosper Australia, Nth Melb BOOK NOW www.prosper.org.au/2025/05/...

Grab your best pen and get ready to vote with the Prosper Australia 2025 Federal election scorecard. Tax reform is on the agenda and we need to make it #1 priority for the next term. www.prosper.org.au/2025/04/... #AusPol #TaxReform

We live in a time of profound change — and with it, real opportunity for reform. As we prepare for what’s ahead, we’re inviting our followers to help guide our work ahead. Have your say in our 2025 Engagement Survey & be in to win a book bundle! 🔗 forms.gle/VtTEM9eu1D2g834g9

Developers: We need tax breaks to build more homes. Also developers: We built too many homes, we need tax breaks to sell them. Housing markets chase profit, not need. Land tax curbs speculation. Public housing meets demand. Treat housing like health: essential. www.theage.com.au/national/vic...

Wild to be revisiting economic debates settled over a century ago. But here we are. Henry George nailed it in 1886. Maybe it's time to let the US chart its own course & explore a new global governance model that isn’t built on military-backed rent-seeking. 📷 via @larsiusprime.bsky.social #tariffs

Higher wages provide only a temporary reprieve. Any increased capacity to pay inevitably gets absorbed into rising land prices. Without a land tax, wage growth merely accelerates the Ponzi scheme that is Australian housing. #auspol