What property-owning MPs have to say about the housing crisis

As renters face astronomical rent rises and mortgage repayments balloon under creeping interest rates, the political debate on the housing crisis rages on.

Drawing on the rich resource that is Crikey’s Landlord List, here’s what some politicians who own multiple properties, per their parliamentary disclosures, have had to say about housing.

Liberal MP Karen Andrews (seven properties)

So housing on the Gold Coast is extraordinarily difficult at the moment. Prices skyrocketed and they started to do that during COVID. And some would say that really caused the change here on the coast when people from the southern states chose to buy site unseen and move up to the Gold Coast … So I’m looking for solutions to provide affordable, reasonable housing for individuals and families here on the coast.

Doorstop, April 4 2023

Labor Senator Deborah O’Neill (five properties)

Yesterday I met with mayor of Murrumbidgee Ruth McRae OAM and councillor John Scarce to discuss the need for affordable housing in the electorate of Farrer.

Facebook, June 14 2023

Independent Sophie Scamps (five properties)

Australians are facing a crisis in housing affordability & availability. It’s a complex and divisive issue and the debate about what to do has stalled time and again — all the while the problem gets worse.

Twitter, June 10 2023

Liberal MP Dan Tehan (seven properties)

More than 100,000 asylum seekers, including more than 73,000 who have had their claim rejected, are living in the community adding further to the housing crisis under Labor, and their cuts in the budget show they are not serious about addressing this issue.

The Australian, May 16 2023

Labor MP Michelle Ananda-Rajah (seven properties)

On housing, when we have tonight 122,000 people sleeping rough, 80% of those are women — where women go, children follow. One in seven of those people are 12 years or less. They are children. They are babies. And [the Greens] are standing in the way … because they want policy nirvana rather than pragmatism.

Q+A, May 22 2023

Liberal MP Nola Marino (eight properties)

Member for Forrest [in WA] Nola Marino said today South West young people at risk of homelessness would receive greater support through increased government funding …

‘Reconnect provides support and assistance to young people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless,’ Mrs Marino said.

Media release, undated

Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi (three properties)

Australia is in the middle of a rental and housing crisis. People renting a home and people buying a home are spending record amounts of their income to put a roof over their head. Too many renters across Australia are staring down the barrel of another rental increase that will push them into homelessness. In a country as wealthy as ours, rising rates of homelessness are a national disgrace. Meanwhile skyrocketing house prices have put buying a home forever out of reach for countless everyday families.

The housing crisis is the result of generous tax breaks for property investors, lending policies that have burdened families with record levels of debt and handed billions in profit to the big banks, the retreat of governments at all levels from providing public housing, and absolutely no protections for renters. This has turned a basic human right into an instrument for financial speculation that is enriching the already wealthy.

Speech, June 19 2023

Labor MP Tony Burke (six properties)

I guess Greens Party MP Max Chandler-Mather discovered this week — if you’ve got something to hide, probably best you don’t put it on your webpage. He asked the PM a question about building more affordable housing. The PM went straight to Max’s local campaigns: ‘The member has never seen a housing development that he wants to support, because if you look at the member’s website it currently hosts at least three separate petitions against housing supply!’

Email to subscribers, June 2023