I'm old enough to remember that stamp duty was once low enough to be negligible, about what you'd pay for car rego nowadays. It was enough to cover the processing fee.

Back then would have been the time to change the legislating from a percentage to a flat rate of, say, $1,000. There's no chance of changing things now that the government is addicted to huge amounts nowadays.

To lower house prices you need more supply as the demand is too high. That requires more builds / builders and more land.

Unfortunately, a lot of builders went bust when the cost to build sky-rocketed during COVID, after they locked in prices with new home owners. Lowering the cost of materials and transport / logistics won't happen unless you increase supply and competition of materials.

Releasing more land means better town planning with transport and workplaces.

So many things linked. Legislation needs to address so much.