Asian investors react to The Hansoning

Advertisement

The sequel few want to see, The Hansoning 2, is well underway now with Domainfax pushing the polarisation of debate along nicely:

“If Ms Hanson insists on working against a multicultural Australia, or adhere to the rejection of a race or a religion, yes, Australia’s development and ability to attract investment could be a problem,” developer B1 Group chairman and NSW Multicultural champion Anne Bi said.

…After Ms Hanson’s victory, two of the Australia China Entrepreneurs Club’s high net worth members asked their chairman Richard Yuan’: “Should we still invest in Australia?”

…”When people heard about Pauline Hanson getting elected, they got nervous,” he said.

“It’s very bad for foreign investment. Her political ideology is anti-Asian, anti-multiculturalism to cause a stirring against any coloured people.”

And on it goes with three more prominent Asian property investors expressing serious reservations. You can’t blame them.

Who you can blame is a political economy culture that has tried to disguise Australian’s falling living standards behind an huge wave of immigration. That includes all three major political parties and the mainstream press which spend much of their time wowsering up labels for those questioning the merits of high immigration while ignoring or extolling visa scams like that recently announced by Malcolm Turnbull:

From July 1, students aged six and above would be able to apply for student visas regardless of their country of citizenship – and their guardians can also apply for Guardian visas (subclass 580)

These visa-rule changes, which were announced during Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s visit to China in April, also mean non-residents can buy several new properties or one existing property…

Dave Platter, from the leading Chinese international-property portal Juwai.com said there has been a nearly 20 per cent jump in inquiries for properties in Australia since Mr Turnbull’s announcement…

Estate agents Vera and Geoffrey Wong have hosted an open home in Sydney’s Eastwood.

Most of their clients are either Chinese or South Korean investors, and Mr Wong says when they were choosing a property, there is no doubt their children’s education is considered most important.

He said buyers are planning purchases that cater for their children’s entire education.

“Schooling … that is – I can’t emphasise it enough – is one of the main factors,” he said.

“Our clients, I would say over 70 per cent, (are looking,) at schooling and the university afterwards.”

To be clear, MB abhors Ms Hanson’s agenda. But we also recognise the simple reality that if you allow migration to price the existing population out of its housing market, push it out of its schools, choke it on its roads, without even explaining why nor seeking a mandate to do it, then you had better get used to the political risk represented in The Hansoning turning into an epic series of blockbusters.
About the author
David Llewellyn-Smith is Chief Strategist at the MB Fund and MB Super. David is the founding publisher and editor of MacroBusiness and was the founding publisher and global economy editor of The Diplomat, the Asia Pacific’s leading geo-politics and economics portal. He is also a former gold trader and economic commentator at The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, the ABC and Business Spectator. He is the co-author of The Great Crash of 2008 with Ross Garnaut and was the editor of the second Garnaut Climate Change Review.