There is nothing more satisfying than observing a dodgy realtor get upset that his/her dodgy trade with dodgy foreign money launderers is being shut down:
Labor leader Bill Shorten’s pledge to double the fees and penalties imposed on foreign property buyers and tax vacant properties drew a strong reaction for singling out Chinese investors.
“This is a lot of dog whistling, don’t listen to it,” said property lawyer John Grimble, a partner at Dentons Australia.
“We would never say that foreign investment was the biggest cause of the house price explosion, but it is a factor,” Mr Shorten told reporters after announcing the plans on Friday.
“It’s all politics and it’s discrimination,” said Monika Tu, the founder of real estate agency Black Diamondz.
“Permanent residents, foreign buyers, they travel, they have international business. A lot of my clients in London have empty homes, and those countries don’t try and kick them out and force them to live elsewhere”.
They have somewhere else to go then.
I couldn’t give a stuff where Monika or her buyers are from. Indeed, to prove my even-handedness, I’ll confess an equal contempt for John Grimble!
What I do care about is that many foreigners are buying illegally, helping price out Australian kids (the majority of whom are immigrants or descended immediately from them for crying out loud).
If there is anyone making this a race issue, it is these children-devouring property parasites.
