Are Governments Really Interested in Fixing the Housing Problem? Policy Capture and Busy Work in Australia

Abstract

This article applies theories of policy capture to explain why Australian governments appear unable to ameliorate the nation's chronic affordability pressures, drawing on discourses produced by government, industry lobby groups and the media, between 2003 and 2013. We focus on key episodes of policy activity surrounding a series of national-level inquiries on housing affordability, and affordable housing and planning reforms in the state of NSW over this time, to highlight the political strategies and tactics that have enabled key interests and the status quo, to prevail.