Thirty years ago, the Australian dream was to own a modest bungalow on a block of land, with a lawn and perhaps a small swimming pool. But as the country's prosperity grew, so did the dream. These days, the aspiration is for something much grander: a two-storey, multi-roomed, faux-Tuscan home in the greenbelt outer suburbs of Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane.
Their size and ostentation have earned them the cruel nickname 'McMansions', and they have set off a fierce debate over what constitutes good taste. 'A complete disaster' is how one award-winning architect described them this month, arguing that the kind of big, bland houses currently in vogue demonstrate 'a poverty of spirit and a barrenness of mind'.
The architectural style differs - there is neo-Georgian, fake-Provencal and a look which can only be described as 'Legoland' - but most McMansions are built to a similar plan. They have at least four bedrooms, a huge kitchen, reception hall, various reception rooms and a two or three-car garage.
It is not just the aesthetes and architects who are offended, though. Environmentalists say they are a disaster, pointing out the cost of heating (or cooling) all those big, empty rooms. And the homes are often built so that they occupy almost the entire plot of land allocated, leaving no room for a garden. 'No trees, no backyard, no soul', one newspaper columnist wrote this week in mock horror.
But the owners are hitting back, accusing their critics of being patronising snobs who have no right to sneer at other people's aspirations. They concede that their newly built homes may not have the aesthetic appeal of Sydney's harbourside apartments for the super-rich, or the quaint 19th-century terraces of inner Melbourne. But, they argue, the houses allow families to breathe, and in a country where property prices have doubled in the past few years, they are relatively cheap. As one letter-writer pointed out in The Sydney Morning Herald: 'Project homes are affordable for families who live on one income.'
It is the owners of these 'McMansions', and people like them, who this month propelled Prime Minister John Howard to a fourth term in office. Working-class families who would once have voted for the opposition Labor Party flocked to Mr Howard's agenda of low interest rates and prudent economic management. The mortgage belt has become the political heartland for Mr Howard's conservative coalition government.
