No wonder the Coalition loves rising house prices

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By Leith van Onselen

Over the weekend, Fairfax posted an article on how immigration minister, Peter Dutton, has added a sixth investment property to his portfolio:

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton quietly added a sixth property to his impressive and expanding portfolio…

Before entering Parliament in 2001, Mr Dutton was a police officer for nine years… It takes the value of the Dutton portfolio to a likely minimum of approximately $5 million…

His admirable portfolio still does not match the property empires of several other MPs.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his wife Lucy have seven properties, including their Point Piper home, a Hunter Valley farm and New York apartment.

Nationals MP David Gillespie has 18 properties, including 17 for investment purposes.

Liberal MP Ian Goodenough has nine – three residential and six investment.

LNP MP Karen Andrews has six investment properties and one residential.

Certainly helps to explain why the Coalition refuses to act on key affordability issues – like tax, foreign buyers, mass immigration, planning/infrastructure and bank lending practices – when they have so much skin in the game. They have a vested interest in maintaining high housing prices.

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About the author
Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.