Home Property Australia Chief Executive | Counting down to the Budget

Chief Executive | Counting down to the Budget

  • February 28, 2024
  • by Mike Zorbas
The Property Council last week released its Federal Pre-Budget Submission

Thought leadership isn’t always a page-turner.

But our Federal Pre-Budget Submission makes advocacy attractive again in four easy steps:

  1. Housing for all – ensuring every Australian has the opportunity to own or rent a home

  2. A competitive destination for global investment – improving our cities by attracting overseas capital to build their future needs

  3. A more productive nation – cultivating a skilled and productive workforce to meet the growing demands of housing and other construction

  4. A clever path to decarbonisation – ensuring that Every Building Counts as we decarbonise our built environment.

Last week we had north of a hundred media hits across the country covering TV, radio and print for a document that usually makes the Sahara look moist.

Hat tip national advocacy boss Matthew Kandelaars and our terrific team for all their good work.

WGEA report 

Yesterday, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency released information on median gender pay gaps for companies with more than 100 employees. This is an important step in advancing gender equality.  

As I said when I accepted this role, leaning into the increasing diversity of our industry should be a golden thread running through all of our organisational efforts. Our goal is to have a zero gender pay gap at the Property Council – and to maintain it – across the different methods of measurement, not just a like-for-like pay basis where we are at zero.

Yesterday’s release will allow our industry the opportunity to analyse where we have succeeded, and the many areas for improvement. 

The Property Champions of Change group, of whom I am a member of, was established in 2015 to promote gender equality across our industry. They will be our leaders on our much-needed journey of improvement.

The future of our cities – join our 27 March Summit

At the Property Council we have had big-city-energy since the turn of the century.

Twelve years ago, we championed the domestic introduction of UK-style City Deals that prioritised economic growth and jobs. Delivery being King, some of those deals turned out to be pure fairy floss and some had substantial buy-in from three levels of government.

The pandemic too catalysed change in city work patterns, household formation and technology. Some of these changes may well prove to be lasting.

Join me at the Future Cities Summit on 27 March to unpack where our cities are going and what is driving that change with our stellar line up of national and international guests.

Next Wednesday – National Press Club Housing Debate

Tune in to ABC TV next Tuesday from 1230 at the National Press Club, where I will advance our thought leadership solutions to the nation’s housing crisis in a debate format.