In 2003 I delivered the Andrew Olle Media Lecture and it seemed to get a good reaction at the time. A decade later, I'm not so sure.

I called out five great issues that confronted our nation and No.4 was a housing and land crisis that would kill the Australian dream of owning your home for the average young family. Sadly, my words did nothing to turn the trend around.

The former CEO of Australia's best stockmarket performer of the past 20 years, said at an event I attended this week, "Why don't people put more money into research and development, and less into real estate". His former company spends $1 billion a year on research. Of course, it's CSL. It's a great Australian story that should encourage us to invest in real things, not just speculate for "unearned revenue", as economist Joseph Stiglitz would put it.

At an earlier event was another great Australian who used to run BHP. He said that he was worried that his grandchildren might never be able to afford a house or a flat.