If you’ve ever felt like politicians aren’t exactly rushing to solve the housing crisis, there might be a very real reason why. Hint: a lot of them could be personally benefiting from it.
According to the federal Parliament’s register of interests, which is basically the official receipt for what our MPs own and are invested in, a bunch of politicians are sitting on some serious real estate.
Liberal MP Ben Small owns seven properties. Yes, seven. Labor’s Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke has a snazzy six, as does Michelle Ananda-Rajah.
Looking at party leaders, Liberal deputy leader Sussan Ley has four properties to her name. Nationals leader David Littleproud owns three. Even Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has two homes in his portfolio.
Across the board, more than half of federal politicians own at least one investment property, and at least 50 MPs are collecting rental income according to The Guardian. That’s not a small side hustle, that’s an entire rental market baked into our Parliament.
Over the past 12 months, total property ownership in Canberra has dipped slightly from 517 properties to 455, according to Crikey. But that drop has less to do with policy shifts and more to do with older, property-heavy MPs retiring and being replaced by younger pollies who haven’t had the same chance to build up their portfolios (yet).
But here’s the real issue. When so many of the people in charge of housing laws are landlords themselves, how can we really expect bold reform?
Politicians who own multiple properties benefit from rising prices and juicy tax breaks like negative gearing and capital gains discounts. So, when the market’s impossible for young people to enter because it’s so expensive, it’s working in their favour.
Even if they’re not intentionally blocking housing reform, there’s a built-in conflict of interest that makes them less likely to back changes because these reforms might hit their wallets.
The more landlords we have in Parliament, the harder it is to fix a system that’s tilted in their favour. Real change won’t come from the top down unless there are people in the room who actually understand what it’s like to be locked out of the housing market.
It’s just another reason why we need a mix of voices in Parliament, including people who don’t own homes, if we want to see real movement on housing reform.
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