Treasurer Scott Morrison has foreshadowed new measures to encourage afford­able rental housing after NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes broke Liberal ranks by advoc­ating reform of negative gearing.

Mr Stokes was roundly condemned by his federal Liberal colleagu­es after calling for changes to negative gearing to discourage investors from crowding- out owner-occupiers.

Malcolm Turnbull led a chorus of rebuttals even as the Prime Minister’s wife, Lucy, spoke on the same stage as Mr Stokes, endorsing his concerns about “inter- and intra-generational” equity in the housing market. Ms Turnbull, who is the chief commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission, later declined to answer questions about her attit­ude to negative gearing. The advocacy organisation she formerly led, the Committee for Sydney, backed Mr Stokes.

The minister said NSW was doing everything it could to increase housing supply­ but that was not enough to address housing affordability, and instead pointed to investors­ who negatively geared multiple properties.

Queensland first home owners grantFrom 1 July 2016 the Great Start Grant became known as the Queensland First Home Owners’ Grant.

The Queensland Government also announced a one-off, 12-month boost of $5,000 to the grant, which since 1 July 2016, is now worth $20,000.

Get into your first home sooner

The Queensland First Home Owners' Grant is a state government initiative to help first home owners to get their new first home sooner.

Depending on the date of your contract, you’ll get $15,000 or $20,000 towards buying or building your new house, unit or townhouse (valued at less than $750,000). You can even buy off the plan or choose to build yourself. It’s a great opportunity to buy or build a new home in Queensaland's great state.

How a Queensland First Home Owners' Grant can help you.

land tax

Mindful that successful investment is about maximising returns and minimising exposure and cost, the various states Land Tax thresholds play an often overlooked part, in investment property decision making.

Land tax is assessed on the sum total of an individuals land holdings in any given state. (EG if you owned two taxable properties in a given state with taxable values of $200,000 and $300,000 respectively, the tax is assessed on $500,000 at the rate shown in the table above.)

2016 - Current State by State Land Tax Thresholds Table.
Separate land tax rates may apply for Trusts. Absentee owner surcharges may applicable & Exemptions may apply
(Accurate at time of publishing)

Toowoomba Hong Kong Cathay umboAustralia's first privately-built airport has announced weekly international freight flights will begin next month.

Cathay Pacific will operate the jumbo service between Toowoomba's Wellcamp Airport, 120km west of Brisbane, and Hong Kong.

The freight-only service is scheduled to begin on November 22 2016.

Airport developer and co-owner John Wagner said the service was a tremendous opportunity for the region's agricultural sector, and would see chilled beef and other perishables flown direct from local producers to customers in Asia.

(This further strengthens long term investment property opportunities in Toowoomba as it takes another step forward in employment and population growth - See examples of Investment Property to benefit from the continuing commercial growth of WellCamp Airport)

"This really is the culmination of two years of very hard work to convince an airline to run out of a regional centre in Australia," Mr Wagner said.

"I think what Cathay really worked out after that initial trial flight was that the market is here and the people of this region are proactive and are prepared to look outside the square in order to get their produce off to Asia, where half the world's population lives," Mr Wagner said.

"Initially for this first service, it'll probably be about 35 to 40 jobs direct at the airport, but the flow-on effect is mind-blowing and what people don't really understand is what this means for our region, both from a jobs perspective and from the perspective of economic prosperity and confidence," he said.

Full story -  Source   ABC News

investment property and personal growth treeIf you want to grow your business of property investment, if you want your investment property portfolio to go to a new level, you have to go to a new level as well.”

So many successful people share this belief and so are constantly “working on themselves”!

You look at any person who is performing at their peak and I guarantee they are always consciously working on themselves – reading, going through courses, training with coaches and mentors etc, because they understand that if they don’t, then they are not going to get where they want to go!

You can’t go around treating Business, Relationships, and your Self as separate parts of your life.

You are one person, living one life, with multiple goals; not one person, living multiple lives, with multiple goals!

It is so important to recognize that all the goals you have for success will only be realized if you are work on the common denominator – You!

You need to start thinking “I need my business to grow, I need to grow”

If you are looking for business growth, then doing more and working harder is only going to get you so far, and is ultimately going to end in dissatisfaction, burn out and disappointment.

You need to think of yourself as a tree.

Your Goals and Dreams are the branches and you are the base of the tree (the Roots and Trunk) that nourishes them.

If you are not looking after you, or a part of the base is being deprived then ultimately branches will start dying and falling off!

Deepak Chopra said "I use memories, but do not allow memories to use me" Use memories and experiences to learn from and to create your future. Our experiences must be used to create our future, not to make us wither and shy away from the future as a victim of poor experiences.