Wudapuli: the new Wall Street

What have any of those things got to do with capacity to pay the rent? I wondered, dimly.

It seems that prospective purchasers are to pay off their $270,000 homes at the rate of $150 a week. I think the man in the mackintosh must have handled the valuation, because there aren't so many properties around Wadeye changing hands at this early stage of the boom.

But it's only a matter of time before the housing market catches fire and the big investment banks open lavish offices in this thriving metropolis.

Apparently the federal government is suggesting that families will take up to 20 years to pay off the houses.

Now, mathematics isn't going to be my special subject when I finally get that wild-card entry onto Mastermind, but I've got to say that these figures look decidedly dodgy. (Hint: by my calculations, $150 a week multiplied by 20 years is a good few quid short of $270,000.)

Then again, I can't understand why someone would want to lease land that they already own, so I'm clearly no judge of these things.

But this circus has all the hallmarks of a “Doctor Mal's Medicine Show” patent cure-all.

The government goes to the voters this year, and Indigenous Affairs will once again be shoved onto the backburner with the tacit agreement of both major parties. But, when nagged about the natives, Howard's Heroes will be looking for a stronger pitch than, "Look we've made a complete hash of things so you might as well give that other mob a crack".

They'll want to campaign with something much more convincing: Something along the lines of "We really believe that the fizzy green snake-oil in the attractively-presented plastic bottle will do the trick this time".

I'm going to ask the man in the mackintosh about it.