I concede that in my view, one could not slip a razor blade between Labor/Liberal nowadays. Labor in particular has let its voter base down very badly.

But agreed; that was not the question.
I hope RUDD is serious...?

It is absolutely critical to even acknowledge that renting is a viable part of living, and crucially;-low cost affordable housing is paramount.
At the very least, more power to Rudd for putting this on the agenda.

It will not work without the cooperation of the States though.

In my State it has not changed the plans of our Housing Minister to sell off 8,000 Public Houses whilst at the same time extolling the virtues of PH, and its vital role in society...WHERE HE ACKNOWLEDGES THE DEMAND FOR IT IS INCREASING. Go figure!

This is a H/Min. who was formerly a W/Comp.lawyer. he did an excellent job.

He is hell-bent as a politician on the slash/burn principle. AND...; and this is a matter of public record; he has two Parliamentary salaries coming into his household, (spouse in der' House. Not a Pol.),-and has chosen to avail himself of a scheme that won major party approval 4 years ago. The purchase of a Holden Statesman for $7,500 (the initial proposal approved was $750! The Auditor General stepped in). ALL other costs are met by the taxpayer. ALL. And the vehicle is for ALL use ; private use OK.
As a Minister of course; he also has a chauffeur driven vehicle.

What's my point? (other than the "power corrupts..." thing!). There is a snowball's chance in hell of the success of this scheme, if a State Minister has these kind of priorities/philosophies.

Is Rudd's scheme a good one? Yes! I have to wonder if he already knows that it will stall....

My own feeling is that it is one of those nice little schemes which make good election headlines and which will just quietly fade away after Kevin settles in to the Lodge. He has no intention of actually doing anything about it and will already have a range of excuses ready to explain his failure to do anything....along with his failure to do a number of other impossible things...his campaign is beginning to take on an Alice in Wonderland quality....

Communicat,

There is already a name for those sorts of promises "non-core". Remember that phrase, twas coined by our current PM.

We could give Rudd's idea-plan some support_something like this (his Plan ) has worked in America and Europe) Why not copy it here...after all, its just a copied plan from something that is already working elsewhere.
Its been proven that people who manage to get support are more likely to pick up their lives and get above the mess they have happened to land in ( for one reason or another) and their lives and all around them benefit from improvements, it is also common for most people to rise up above this level of support to become self sufficient members of society.
I see such support/ rent assistance, (or whatever) as the family support many lack these days due to our modern lifestyle and lack of family and or community support.
Lets help people get a start in helping themselves, belonging is the best start.
Have others any better plan's

We could give Rudd's idea-plan some support_something like this (his Plan ) has worked in America and Europe) Why not copy it her...after all its just a copied plan of something that is already working elsewhere.
Its been proven that people whom get support are more likely to pick up their lives and get above the mess they have happened to land in ( for one reason or another) and their lives and all around them benefit from improvements, it is also common for most people to rise up above this level of support to become self sufficient members of society.
I see such support/ rent assistance, or whatever as the family support many lack these days due to our modern lifestyle and lack of family and or community support.
Lets help people get a start in helping themselves, belonging is the best start.
Have others any better plan's?
Mabye you can offer them to Rudd'd team?

No it will not work and the whole of the ALP rank and file is against it.
It is a foolhardy misguided thing to do it will create more problems for the homeowner.
The reasons for the problems with housing affordability is.
1 Low interest rates.
2. Investors are jumping in front of the true home dwellers and gazumping them in the queues with the ready money to buy the land and genuine home dwellers are being beaten to make the offer for the land.
Negative gearing is not producing affordable rents those that already have a house and many more are being assisted and subsidised so land is not available. Kevin Rudd has never struggled so he doesn't understand and his housing spokesperson has not got a clue and should be sacked. Howard has engineered this whole problem and Labor will have to try and sort it out.
3. Terminate negative gearing.
4. Terminate stamp duty for home dwellers but retain it for investors.
5. Assist home dwellers with the Government assisting by paying 25% of the interest on the loan to the Building Society on the home dwellers behalf this is called MIRAS -Mortgage Interest Rate From Source.
6 Rudd has failed the people of Australia by appeasing Uranium Mining Companies by supporting expansion of Uranium Mining this is another misguided disaster also.
7. Also taking the unilateral step in supporting the logging of old growth forests somebody stop the fool before it is too late is he another reactionary Tony Blair ?