Greens MPs who blocked Labor’s $10bn social housing fund hold property portfolios worth millions
Some of the Greens MPs who blocked a 30,000-home housing plan hold portfolios worth millions that could command up to $1000 a week in rent, official documents show.
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Some Greens MPs who blocked Labor’s 30,000-home social housing fund hold property portfolios worth millions of dollars – and the party’s 15 federal members own 27 homes or land parcels between them and their partners.
As Australians struggle through a severe housing crisis, research on the rental value of similar properties shows some of the MPs would command combined rents of upwards of $1000 a week on their portfolios.
But they teamed up with the Coalition to block a vote on Labor’s Housing Australia Future Fund, which will finance the construction of 30,000 homes over five years.
The Greens, who have demanded more spending and tighter rent controls, moved to delay debate on the bill until October.
The parliamentary register of interests, which requires politicians to declare property and share holdings, reveals some of the party’s MPs own up to four properties.
But the party says all its landlord MPs have frozen their tenants’ rent.
Of SA’s two Greens’ senators, Sarah Hanson-Young only had her personal home to declare and no investment property, and Barbara Pocock declared her personal home and a block of land at Chiton, near Victor Harbor.
In addition to their home, NSW Senator and the party’s deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi and her husband own two investment properties.
One is a terrace in the inner Sydney suburb of Beaconsfield, which RP Data records show was bought for $193,000 in 1996. Its value has since soared to an estimated $1.47m (according to realestate.com.au) and it was last listed for rent at $725/week in 2019.
In 2001 they bought another investment property at Port Macquarie, on the mid-north coast of NSW, for $250,000. The four-bedroom house, now worth an estimated $1.37m, was last listed for rent at $480/week in 2020.
Senator Faruqi also owns a 500sqm parcel of land in Lahore, Pakistan.
Her NSW colleague Senator David Shoebridge has close ties to a similarly impressive portfolio, with his declaration including the mortgages to three investment properties owned by his wife.
The couple live in inner-Sydney’s swish Woollahra, where the median house price is more than $5m, and his wife has properties in Ultimo and Darlinghurst, which are also close to the harbour city’s CBD.
Mr Shoebridge declared to the NSW Parliament in 2020 that a third investment was located interstate.
The three-bedroom, one-bathroom Ultimo terrace was bought in 2012 for $543,000 and is now estimated to be valued at about $1.5m.
It was listed for rent at $650/week in 2018 and re-listed in 2021 at a price undisclosed.
The Darlinghurst apartment, which has two bedrooms, was bought in 2011 for $535,000. Since then its value has also soared to about $1.5m, according to realestate.com.au estimates.
Elizabeth Watson-Brown, member for the Brisbane electorate of Ryan, and her husband have their home in the riverside suburb of Saint Lucia plus a property at Auchenflower, just west of the Queensland capital’s CBD.
That property is listed as an investment on her interests declaration and has been used as a business premises.
They also have a beachfront holiday house at Hastings Point on the north coast of NSW, which was purchased in 2009 for $618,000 and is now valued at about $844,000.
Tasmanian senator Nick McKim declared four properties – his West Hobart home, a “shack” at Nubeena, southeast of Hobart, and investments in Nubeena and New Norfolk, northwest of the Tasmanian capital.
In May, he said only one of those properties was tenanted.
“Our tenant is a disabled family member who would otherwise likely be homeless because of the abject failure of the major parties to deal with the rental crisis,” he tweeted.
Senator McKim said the other property listed as an investment was agricultural land that is being rewilded.
Other Greens MPs who declared more than one property included senators Penny Allman-Payne from Queensland and Janet Rice from Victoria.
A spokesman for Greens leader Adam Bandt said Greens MPs who rent out properties have frozen their rental rates – but a renter’s ability to keep their home shouldn’t rely upon the generosity of the owner.
“We need a massive shakeup to make housing affordable in Australia, but it’s important that we do what we can,” he said.
“We need the Prime Minister and National Cabinet to freeze rent increases and cap them after two years.”
The spokesman said every single Greens MP in parliament supported a freeze on rent increases and winding back negative gearing.
Greens MPs who did not own property included Queensland’s Max Chandler-Mather, who holds the seat of Griffiths, Stephen Bates, who has the seat of Brisbane, and WA senator Dorinda Cox.
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