Pyne scoffs at wealthy Labor MPs as class war rages

The Defence Industry Minister has labelled the Labor frontbench ‘a bunch of hypocrites’ for criticising Malcolm Turnbull’s wealth.

Christopher Pyne: ‘Labor are a bunch of hypocrites here’. Picture: AAP

Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne has labelled the Labor frontbench “a bunch of hypocrites” and “pathetic” for criticising Malcolm Turnbull’s wealth despite being asset-rich themselves, with substantial investment property portfolios, family trusts and self-managed super funds.

Mr Pyne yesterday leapt on analysis of Labor frontbenchers’ investments compiled by The Australian, which showed the party’s 45 frontbenchers owned 105 properties between them and could continue reaping the benefits of negative gearing if Labor were to win government and scrap the lucrative tax break for new investors.

The widening political class war came up in Labor’s partyroom on Tuesday with Bill Shorten saying he had no problem with Mr Turnbull being wealthy, despite Labor releasing an ad personally attacking the Prime Minister for benefiting from corporate tax cuts.

Labor will limit negative gearing to new housing if elected while “grandfathering” arrangements for those already in the market — such as property owners on Mr Shorten’s frontbench.

Mr Pyne said the Opposition Leader was out of touch with the public for campaigning against the key Australian value of aspiration.

“I think the Labor Party has completely missed the boat on this issue,” Mr Pyne told Sky News.

“Every Australian wants to do better. Everyone wants to earn more money, get new jobs, move up through the ladder of opportunity as Labor used to talk about. That’s the Australian way and Malcolm Turnbull embodies it.

“And Labor are a bunch of hypocrites here. As we’ve seen today they are property tycoons. These people have got five, six, seven properties each, and they are criticising Malcolm Turnbull.

“It is pathetic, it is hypocritical. I think the Australian people are laughing today at the Australian Labor Party trying to get away with this smear, this grubby campaign, and exposing themselves as not being in touch with the Australian aspiration, which is always to keep moving up, like the salmon swimming upstream.”

The Opposition Leader said he wished Mr Turnbull “good luck” for being “very, very wealthy” after he was asked about The Australian’s report.

“Let me state very clearly: good luck to Mr Turnbull for being a very, very wealthy man. It is not his wealth that worries me, it’s when he says really stupid things,” Mr Shorten said.

“When he says to young couples trying to buy their first home: ‘Just get rich parents.’ When he says to 60-year-old aged-care workers in Burnie: ‘Just get a better job.’ I genuinely think that Mr Turnbull is so out of touch with how millions of Australians live their lives. That’s the problem.”

Mr Shorten also argued that the Super Saturday by-elections would be tightly run contests, ­saying that Longman was “very close” and that Braddon was “very difficult”.

Analysis of parliament’s register of pecuniary interests also reveals some Labor shadow ministers made use of family trusts and declared share portfolios.

Labor has set up a sharp divide with the government over class lines going into the next election. Last week Labor vowed to repeal the bulk of the government’s $144 billion personal income tax cut package.

On Tuesday, Mr Shorten announced that a Labor government would repeal tax cuts for companies with an annual turnover of $10 million to $50m.