Aussie filmmaker behind viral housing crisis videos hits back at critics of ‘privileged’ upbringing

An Aussie filmmaker behind a series of viral videos about the housing crisis has hit back at critics of his “privileged” upbringing.

EXCLUSIVE

An Aussie filmmaker who racked up millions of views with a series of viral videos about the housing crisis has hit back at suggestions of “hypocrisy” due to his privileged upbringing.

“I’m constantly acknowledging my privilege in every TV show I’ve been on, as a white upper middle class person,” Jack Toohey told news.com.au.

The 30-year-old went viral earlier this month — and sparked a heated response from talkback radio callers demanding an end to “boomer bashing” — with a TikTok video highlighting the differences between buying a house in 1983 and 2023.

@jack_toohey

How to fix the housing crisis. Stop doing the same things and expecting them to change #housingcrisis#learnontiktok#future#2030#timetravel

♬ original sound - Jack Toohey

In a follow-up last week outlining what he said was the “cause” of the crisis, Toohey agreed that people should not “squabble over which generation is to blame” and instead pointed the finger at the rise of “neoliberalism” in the 1980s leading to the sell-off of public assets and underinvestment in public housing.

He has now released part three laying out his suggestions for how to fix the crisis, including a 1 per cent “housing levy” on all Australians, abolishing capital gains and negative gearing concessions for the top 10 per cent, acquiring “vacant” properties, and limiting the number of investment properties individuals can own.

Glenn Toohey and Jack Toohey. Picture: Facebook

But some online have attacked Toohey, citing his wealthy upbringing.

“You’re not an average person,” one angry Twitter user wrote in response to an appearance by Toohey on Nine’s Today earlier this month, where he conceded he was “very lucky” to be able to live at home with his parents.

The Twitter user claimed Toohey’s father was a millionaire banker who “privatised most of Sydney in [the] early 2000s”.

“His house is worth millions on the North Shore,” they wrote.

“Your high school education was over $150,000 and you’re now a communist. Will you take his inheritance though? The hypocrisy is astounding. You are the biggest beneficiary of what you’re complaining about, free markets.”

Toohey is the son of Glenn Toohey, who worked at Macquarie Bank — nicknamed the Millionaires’ Factory — from 2001 to 2009.

Glenn Toohey is a former Macquarie executive. Picture: Facebook

He previously worked at BT Financial Group and more recently held senior management positions at franchise giant Retail Food Group and SumoSalad, according to his LinkedIn.

Property records show the Toohey family own a four-bedroom home on Sydney’s Lower North Shore estimated to be worth $2.5 million.

Jack Toohey also attended the exclusive St Andrews Cathedral School, where tuition fees start at more than $34,000 per year.

“I was lucky to go to a private school, that was not my choice, I’m using the position I’m in to advocate for people who are less privileged than me, and you cop s**t for it,” he said.

“Would they rather me follow my dad’s path and work for Macquarie Bank? I don’t feel I really need to justify how much money I donate to charity or work I do in the community.”

He added, “Sure, I’ll donate my inheritance if that’s what’s going to make them happy.”

Toohey said he had been open about the fact that “I would literally be homeless if I hadn’t been able to move home”.

“My source of income is DJing a few hours on weekends,” he said.

Jack Toohey has suggested solutions to the housing crisis. Picture: TikTok

He recently sold his business, Darlingurst-based Sure Studios, which he ran for eight years since the age of 22, for “various reasons [including] my own mental health, for a very small amount of money to someone that worked in the business because my heart wasn’t in it”.

“Now I’m wholly devoted to making content that is advancing the cause of people less fortunate than me,” he said.

Asked whether his mum and dad shared his views, Toohey said it was a “discussion I have all the time” with “people from all walks of life”, including his parents.

“My parents definitely agree with me on this stuff,” he said. “That’s the thing, you can agree with a policy that might not directly benefit you or might hinder you.”

He stressed that his proposals such as limiting property tax breaks only targeted the top 10 per cent and not mum-and-dad investors.

“I’m going after the top 10 per cent of the population who have 90 per cent of the economic growth,” he said.

“And not the people having a go at me because I come from a privileged family, which I’m constantly acknowledging unlike most white people that are ever given any kind of platform.”

The view from Ryde towards the CBD. Picture: iStock

Toohey added, “You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. Whatever, it doesn’t change my resolve. I’m going to continue to ask the hard questions of people that gain the lion’s share of wealth growth in the country.”

In a follow-up email he said he was “trying to lift people up by advocating for safety and security for all through housing … unlike some who would rather tear people down for trying than roll up their sleeves and fight for a basic right for all too”.

“My privilege is public domain but equally so to is my commitment to charity and advocacy,” he said. “I will continue to fight for people and the planet and am not concerned by strangers’ apparent interest in the circumstances of my childhood.”

Toohey has filmed interviews with politicians at Parliament House in Canberra for part four of his series, which he said would likely be released by the end of the week.

It comes as the Greens and the Coalition joined forced on Monday to block Labor’s centrepiece $10 billion housing bill.

The minor party helped the opposition delay a vote in the Senate until October 16, after negotiations with the government stalled.

Labor had previously warned that the Senate moving the bill to October would be considered as having failed the Senate — the first step in a double-dissolution trigger for an early election.

If the bill returns to the Senate and it is blocked again, an election could be called that would put all 76 senators on the chopping block.

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