Thank you, Hasbeen, for reminding me to face up to the well-worn right-wing mantra that I alone am responsible for the choices I make. That lets society off the hook. No doubt we'll be hearing this Howard-era mantra ad nauseum after the next election.

Never let it be said that freelancers might have no real choice in being freelancers. Of course, their 'choice' has nothing whatever to do with the fact that many industries and professions now increasingly rely on casual/contract labour and that permanent jobs are becoming scarcer than a left-wing journalist at a Murdoch tabloid - and this will get much worse after the free-markets zealots regain control of the country again.

I'm glad that you were able to start a new business at age 58. This does not mean that ALL people aged 58 have the ability, know-how, financial means or opportunity to become born-again entrepreneurs late in life.

The local Truckies driving the mining trucks in Nth Qld are 3 grand a week.

Killany, it does not matter what goes on in he financial world if you
want to borrow money for a house you have to earn a certain fraction
of the loan each year.
The price of houses is geared to two incomes.

If you borrow on two incomes, you need two incomes to repay.
That is all there is to it.
It matters not a damn what happens to interest rates etc the houses rise
or lower to fit the money available.

So you feel like a single mum Sophie? I'm not sure where we could find you a compliant one of those, on such short notice.
All levity aside, there is a problem here.
The Irish have a saying, when poverty comes in the door, love flies out the window.
When Howard told us we had never ever had it so good, he was referring to the hollow equity in our homes.
However he overlooked replacement costs and the huge record personal debt levels that supported that change.
And or, the sacrifices needed to save up the deposit, then manage the mortgage.
And the accompanying increase in rates, insurance etc, and the ever increasing gridlocked commute. Before the Howard era, we needed four years worth of average incomes to buy our homes; now its more than seven.
Trying to manage a small business as a couple can destroy a marriage!
When the focus is on paying the bills, and trying to collect from slow payers, the pressures can be enormous, along with the inevitable destructive blame shifting and sacrifice?
Perhaps the answer lies in selling up and moving on, to much more lucrative paid work, or even a fly in fly out job?
If you are going to spend so much time apart, you might as well be adequately rewarded for it!?
Rhrosty

My problem with FIFO is that it unbalances everything from family life to wages to social disruption & the winner as the biggest losers are the small communities being overrun by the money-hungry who have absolutely no concern about the communities.
In the end when families are broken & broke we, the taxpayers are forking out again & again.
The overall loser in the end is the country.

Bazz

‘It matters not a damn what happens to interest rates etc the houses rise
or lower to fit the money available.’

House prices rise and fall according to the availability of credit and level of demand. The so-called global economic reforms of the 70s and 80s were all geared to deregulating the controls that kept credit – and thus commodity and real estate prices – in check. Added to that, the Keating government’s negative gearing legislation sent already overpriced Australian housing into the stratosphere by artificially inflating the level of demand. We are still living with the consequences of this.

Double incomes may have been one contributing factor to the rise in house prices. However, the rise of the double-income and one-and-a-half income family also coincided with a corresponding rise in divorce rates after the Family Law reforms of the mid-70s. With a divorce rate of almost 1 in 2 marriages, for every double income family able to afford an expensive house, there were up to two single income families only able to afford a cheap house.