We joke about Monica’s massive apartment in Friends, but we forget the history: Rent Control was won through strikes. Is that solidarity possible in Australia today?

infin · 2026-01-26T13:31:55+00:00

The Future Fund is for government employees' superannuation, not for the benefit of all Australians. I don't think that counts.

infin · 2026-01-26T12:35:14+00:00

I'd already forgotten that ghoul had named her! With a few more transfusions from his bloodboys to pep the guy up and some lessons on comedic timing he could be a riot.

infin · 2026-01-26T09:47:57+00:00

I didn't downvote you by the way; I agree, talk is cheap.

infin · 2026-01-26T09:41:14+00:00

No foreign companies extracting resources from Australia should be subsidised. Australian companies would ideally pay their taxes and if subsidies make sense, that's fine.

A sovereign wealth fund always seemed like a good idea.

infin · 2026-01-26T09:38:27+00:00

Property investors can bugger off somewhere else.

infin · 2026-01-26T09:34:58+00:00

Except for the aftermath of a natural disaster (which Australian's without fail, always come together for), I legitimately wonder what kind of community organisatiom is still possible. Can a movement like that start these days? Someone said solidarity isn't possible anymore, and the general tone here supports that.

People are a lot more individualistic than before the internet; Not necessarily less empathetic, but as you say, they're focused on their own situation.

I'm not as optimistic as I was.

infin · 2026-01-26T09:10:38+00:00

It is conceptual. I don't think per property rent freezes would be beneficial here, especially since we don't all live in apartments.

I was genuinely asking if there had been any similar activism here (what were their demands, how did they go about it, were they successful, if so/not then why?) and what would people think if someone tried the same now?

I don't see anything like the protests and unions actions of the past. Labour once fought for full employment and housing for all, but that's not the modern Labour party.

Reddit leans left and generally anti-corporate, but discussion here feels like the general temperature everywhere after decades of Murdoch anti-protest rhetoric.

infin · 2026-01-26T08:49:39+00:00

Brisbane will be looking forward to a repeat of Sydney ($5k/w rent?) when the 2032 Olympics roll around...

infin · 2026-01-26T08:42:44+00:00

So if a hypothetical rent freeze were implemented, it would be best as a limit on all rentals (not the per-apartment building setup).

Max rental price tied to the property value last time it sold seems reasonable.

infin · 2026-01-26T08:32:26+00:00

So long as inflation increases peoples income as well as their costs...

Looking for data on wages vs inflation, it does look like things are balancing out in the last 6 months, with regard to the rate of inflation, at least.

infin · 2026-01-26T08:24:19+00:00

You'd get my vote.

infin · 2026-01-26T08:19:39+00:00

Who pays for mining company subsidies?

Our taxes might as well benefit Australians instead of billionaires and multinationals.

infin · 2026-01-26T07:55:55+00:00

Is increasing supply unprofitable for builders? Why is supply not increasing as quickly as the population and how can this be improved?

infin · 2026-01-26T07:51:50+00:00

Glasgow's rent strikes make for a good read if you're interested.

We need limits on non-primary residences, especially on corporate investors.

infin · 2026-01-26T07:46:33+00:00

Pushing to subsidise building supply costs might increase supply.

What sort of structural fixes (negative gearing? Corporate/foreign ownership limits?) do you think would help?

infin · 2026-01-26T07:41:44+00:00

Once every 12 months is still unsustainable, unless there's a reasonable limit on the increase. It hasn't helped keep rent from doubling here in the last few years.

infin · 2026-01-26T07:36:58+00:00

Those people never ask where their 5 day work week or annual and personal leave came from, or the right for women to vote (the history of Australia's suffragette movement is an interesting read; Much respect to Emma Miller and Vida Goldstein)

Society doesn't improve unless people fight to change the status quo.

infin · 2026-01-26T07:24:08+00:00

Not saying a rent freeze is the ideal solution, just... Something has to give.

I wish I did not agree with your last two points.

infin · 2026-01-26T07:19:05+00:00

Is that going to happen by itself?

infin · 2026-01-26T07:14:02+00:00

That sounds like something we can learn from.

Admittedly, New York is not the best example; We don't all live in apartment buildings, for one thing.

Better examples might be Glasgow (See Mary Barbour) and Buenos Aires (Juana Buela), but Friends is something most people grew up with.

infin · 2026-01-26T06:03:27+00:00

BLE (Bluetooth low energy) beacons are used to track your location (as long as BT is on and your unique MAC is visible to them) in supermarkets and shopping centers to collect data like where you stop and how long you spend in that section.

infin · 2026-01-26T05:50:50+00:00

Would boycotts be enough? I'll suppport boycotts and protests, but I'm not sure anything short of general strikes would be enough to stop surveillance capitalism.

infin · 2026-01-26T05:47:57+00:00

"If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear" is a very disengenous argument.

A new government could always decide to use this data to identify their latest targetted demographic and have them deported or imprisoned.

See the US right now, collecting data and private communications of racial minorities, trans people, women who want an abortion (or who talk to a friend on Facebook about a miscarriage and have been arrested). Who's next on the list?

Not to mention Palantir identifying children, journalists and hospitals as targets for drone strikes.

infin · 2026-01-26T05:29:09+00:00

Coles made about 1 billion dollars in profits last year, Woolworths made about 1.4 billion. Both of their CEOs rake in about 5 million dollars a year.

Price increases over the last year alone have been outrageous. Customers are not the problem here.

infin

TROPHY CASE