A survey out today shows Australia is the
world's tenth most socially advanced nation.
But while Australia scores well on personal
rights - such as freedom of speech, freedom of movement and political rights -
it's falling well behind in housing affordability.
Listen to my report from this morning's edition of AM
Listen to my report from this morning's edition of AM
The study comes as spiraling real estate
prices in Sydney fuel fears about a potentially dangerous housing bubble
especially if the Reserve Bank cuts interest rates in the coming months.
The report also underscores that the end of
the resources boom, illustrated by the falling iron ore price, has the
potential to damage living standards of Australians.
The Social Progress Index which is published
by the US not-for-profit group, Social Progress Imperative, ranks Norway as the
world's most socially advanced nation.
Norway is followed by Sweden, Switzerland, Iceland, New Zealand and
Canada.
At number ten, Australia is in the middle of the rankings but ahead of the bigger economies such as Britain, Germany, Japan and US.
Australia ranks in the middle, but ahead of
Britain, Germany, Japan, the United States in terms of social progress.
But Lynne Pezzullo, lead partner of health
economics and social policy at the accounting firm Deloitte, says Australia
only ranks 19th in the world when it comes to shelter and 51st in terms of
housing affordability.
"Access to affordable housing is a key
issue and Australia is not doing particularly well in that area, even though we
have very low interest rates at the moment," Ms Pezzullo told AM.
"But importantly it's our housing
pricing and our access into the housing market, both in terms of rent and also
in terms of purchase, which are driving the poor performance we have in that
area."
Ms Pezzullo says deepening worries about
housing and basic shelter have potential psychological impacts that could
ultimately lead to suicide.
"There's a link between housing
affordability and homelessness and then through to domestic violence and
suicide rates," Ms Pezzullo said.
"Australia performs particularly poorly
relative to other countries in relation to our high suicide rates."
Ms Pezzullo also warns that the fallout from
declining commodity prices could ultimately hurt living standards in Australia.
"Australia has had a really good free
kick in the last three decades from particular factors, which have been very
gracious to us," Ms Pezzullo said.
"But this coming decade we've got the
baby boomers exiting the population and therefore reducing participation rates,
we haven't had major investments in infrastructure or micro reforms to benefit
from and of course we've got the iron ore price in particular falling and the
coal price falling," Ms Pezzullo said.
"Other commodity prices are falling
which means we have got particularly issues across the Australian economy -
particularly in the Western Australian and Queensland economy."
The Social Progress Index is closely-watched
because it does not use gross domestic product as the sole factor in measuring
a nation's wealth.
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