How long it takes to earn your rent

People in the Northern Territory work longer than most to earn their rent. Picture: File

HOW many hours work does it take you to cover your rent each week?

A widely accepted measure of affordable housing says that if your rent costs less than 30 per cent of your gross income, or a third of your working week, you're doing OK.

Comparing ABS data on average full-time earnings with RP Data figures on median rents shows how many hours on average it takes for a full-time worker to make their rent in each state.

Joel Pringle, campaign manager at Australians for Affordable Housing, says rent is much less affordable in the Northern Territory compared to other states because of the mining boom.

"Because the population and the existing housing stock is so low [the rise in the number of people living in the state] has pushed up the prices," he said.

Mr Pringle said high rents in the ACT were largely due to high white-collar employment.

"And it's such a small territory, such small population, that any swing really shows up," he said.

Mr Pringle added that high unemployment rates in Tasmania and South Australia meant that those who were employed were in a much better position to afford housing.

NT
Median house rent: $590 (takes 16.6 hours to earn)
Median unit rent: $460 (takes 13 hours to earn)
Average weekly salary: $1417.4 ($35.44 per hour)

ACT
House rent $510 (takes 12.4 hours to earn)
Unit rent: $430 (takes 10.5 hours to earn)
Average weekly salary: $1645.1 ($41.13 per hour)

NSW
House rent: $410 (takes 11.7 hours to earn)
Unit rent: $430 (takes 12.29 hours to earn)
Average weekly salary: $1398.90 ($34.97 per hour)

QLD
House rent: $385 (takes 11.2 hours to earn)
Unit rent: $350 (takes 10.2 hours to earn)
Average weekly salary: $1370 ($34.25 per hour)

WA
House rent: $420 (takes 10.7 hours to earn)
Unit rent: $420 (takes 10.7 hours to earn)
Average weekly salary: $1590.6 ($39.77 per hour)

VIC
House rent: $340 (takes 10.2 hours to earn)
Unit rent: $340 (takes 10.2 hours to earn)
Average weekly salary: $1331 ($33.28 per hour)

SA
House rent: $320 (takes 10 hours to earn)
Unit rent: $280 (takes 8.8 hours to earn)
Average weekly salary: $1276 ($31.90 per hour)

TAS
House rent: $280 (takes 9.1 hours to earn)
Unit rent: $250 (takes 8.2 hours to earn)
Average weekly salary: $1226.6 ($30.67 per hour)

Australians for Affordable Housing also looked at the average salary of each job and analysed which workers must spend more than 30 per cent of their income in order to afford the median rents in each capital city.

In the Northern Territory and Queensland less than one in 10 professions pay salaries that can cover median capital city rents by spending less than 30 per cent of the pay cheque.

In the NT just one profession (engineering professionals) out of 86 can cover the median capital city rent for a house.

Eight professions (sales, marketing and public relations professionals; architects, designers, planners and surveyors; air and marine transport professionals; machine operators; stationary plant operators; mechanical engineering trades workers; building and engineering technicians and engineering professionals) can cover the median capital city rent for a unit.

In Queensland just five professions (health therapy professionals; engineering professionals; financial brokers and dealers, and investment advisers; air and marine transport professionals; medical practitioners) can cover median capital city rents for houses and units.

Do you rent? How much of your weekly pay cheque do you have to spend?

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Dreamliner takes to skies over Tokyo

Japan's All Nippon Airways tests its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner since overheating batteries forced the fleet grounded worldwide. Lindsey Parietti reports.

A Boeing 787 Dreamliner of All Nippon Airways prepares to land after a test flight at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, one of the first flights after the aircraft was grounded in mid-January amid safety concerns. Picture: AP Source: AP

A MODIFIED Dreamliner took to the skies over Tokyo with top Boeing and ANA executives aboard, as the planemaker and its leading client sought to reassure passengers the jetliners are safe.

It was the first flight by one of All Nippon Airways' 787s since the worldwide fleet of the next-generation planes was grounded over safety concerns due to faulty batteries sparking fires on board two planes.

The test flight by ANA, which has the largest fleet of Dreamliners, came a day after Ethiopian Airlines became the first carrier to resume flying the 787s.

After a two-hour test flight from Tokyo's Haneda airport, ANA chairman Shinichiro Ito and Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Ray Conner descended the stairs of the Dreamliner.

"After three months it's a terrific feeling to have an ANA 787 back in the air, and I am very pleased to say that it was a perfect flight on a perfect day," Mr Conner told reporters.

"As is evident by the fact that we are here today, we are very confident in the solution that we developed...and I can tell you that we put our family on this airplane on any day of a week, and any time."

ANA and Boeing are anxious to put the damaging crisis behind them but it could still be at least a month before the carrier can complete all the battery fixes and get its planes in the air.

Mr Ito said the company may fly the aircraft in May on an irregular basis and that it would aim to resume normal flights from June 1.

"We had not necessarily expected this (problem of batteries) as the launch customer, but I can say it was a meaningful challenge," Mr Ito said.

Neither Mr Ito nor Mr Conner commented on details of compensation, which ANA has said it will seek after months of cancellations and disruption to schedules.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and other regulators grounded the worldwide Dreamliner fleet in mid-January after failures of the lithium-ion batteries on the jetliner caused a fire on board one parked plane in Boston and forced the emergency landing of an ANA-operated aircraft in Japan.

Following months of investigations, the FAA on Thursday issued formal approval of Boeing's battery fix, with Ethiopian Airlines on Saturday becoming the first carrier to resume using the aircraft.

Speaking in Tokyo on Saturday, Mike Sinnett, Boeing's chief project manager for the Dreamliner program, said the Japanese test flight showed the faith that the US aircraft manufacturer placed in the battery fix.

"What it represents is...the depth of confidence that Ray Conner has in the series of design solutions we have brought forward," Mr Sinnett told reporters.

Although the exact cause of the battery failures has yet to be pinpointed - as noted by the FAA on Thursday - Mr Sinnett insisted that the refitted planes were safe to fly.

"Even if we missed the root cause, we have identified 80 potential causal factors and we have addressed all of them in the design," he said.

The battery solution eliminated the potential for fire and heat to get into the airplane, he said.

Japanese travellers expressed mixed feelings towards the modified Dreamliners.

Yuji Kawaguchi, 56, said he would like to see the 787 operations resume soon.

"I often fly for business trips," he said as he waited for a flight to southern Kagoshima at Haneda airport.

"As far as the testing shows no problem, we might as well start thinking about improving convenience."

In contrast, Tomohiro Obayashi, 32, from northern Hokkaido expressed concerns that the root-cause has not been identified.

"I don't feel like flying on the aircraft for a while."

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Rinehart family dispute takes a twist

Mining magnate Gina Rinehart. Source: Bloomberg

ONE of Gina Rinehart's daughters has formally pulled out of the multi million family trust battle.

Hope Rinehart Welker has withdrawn from the legal action over the Hope Margaret Hancock Trust after splitting with her husband and facing serious financial heartache in New York City.

Justice Paul Brereton formally accepted her withdrawal from the case, which has now played out in the NSW Supreme Court for 18 months.

It was Hope who pleaded with her mother, Australia's richest person, to provide her with a cook, cleaner and bodyguard for her birthday and said she was "down to my last $60,000".

Ms Rinehart Welker is still living in New York with her two young children.

Justice Brereton ordered that Ms Rinehart Welker now be joined with her mother and younger sister Ginia as defendants in the case.

The two eldest children, John Langley Hancock and Bianca Hope Rinehart, are still seeking to have their mother removed as head of the family trust.

The trust, which contains a 23.4 per cent stake in Hancock Prospecting, was due to vest in September 2011 when Ginia turned 25 but with just days to go, Mrs Rinehart changed the date to 2068.

The court heard she instructed her children she had done this because of advice they would be financially ruined by capital gains tax, but the children refuted this and accused her of "gross dishonesty and serious misconduct."

Justice Brereton ordered that Mr Hancock and Ms Rinehart have to identify their suggestions for "a replacement trustee or trustees".

The case returns to court next month.

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