Most Australians are expecting property prices to increase as interest rates hit a record low, a new survey has found.
A Westpac-Melbourne Institute barometer of public attitudes taken this month found 57.8 per cent of people are expecting house prices to rise, compared with just 30.9 per cent two years ago.
As of January 2021, 12.9 per cent of Australians are expecting house prices to climb by more than ten per cent - the highest since the start of the pandemic.
A Westpac-Melbourne Institute barometer of public attitudes taken this month found 57.8 per cent of people are expecting house prices to rise, compared just 30.9 per cent two years ago. Pictured is a Brisbane auction in 2020. Pictured is a file image of an auction
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Most Australians have a story about being horribly sunburnt, and while we have improved when it comes to slip, slop, slapping, there are still some myths about it. What are they? Helen Shield spoke to Louise Baldwin, a senior research fellow at the Faculty of Health at the Queensland University of Technology about the myths, and how we can be smarter in the sun.
Duration: 10min 36sec
The federal health minister said the first vaccine to be approved in late January will likely be the Pfizer jab which is already being rolled out the US, UK and EU.
Reset Australia executive director Chris Cooper said people ultimately wanted greater transparency about the extent of misinformation.
“We can’t see each other’s news feeds, and that makes it very difficult to assess the problem,” Mr Cooper told SBS News.
“However, what we’re seeing with a series of studies across the world is that misinformation, particularly around COVID, is absolutely rampant on these platforms.”
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He said greater transparency would allow a proper diagnosis of the problem.
Reset Australia is campaigning for digital platforms to maintain a live list of the most viral URLs being shared, allowing health officials, journalists and academics to track and trace misinformation and better target public health messaging.
Aussies Won’t Be Locked Down for Christmas
Most Australians won’t be locked down over Christmas after the NSW government eased restrictions on gatherings in Sydney’s COVID-19 hotspot.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian says northern beaches residents will be allowed limited visitors over Christmas after eight new locally acquired cases were reported in the 24 hours to 8 p.m. on Dec. 22.
The NSW changes mean that people in every state and territory, who are not in quarantine or isolation, can gather with friends or family over the festive break after a trying year of pandemic restrictions.
“They’re modest tweaks and modest changes to account for the fact that everybody has had a very difficult year and some people’s stress levels and mental health capacity is already at breaking point and we want to put that against the current risks as we see them,” Berejiklian told reporters on Wednesday.