Trying to save Josh Recessionberg in Kooyong, at The Australian:
Julian Burnside, a wealthy barrister who has amassed a $20 million property portfolio including a Victorian mansion, multiple waterfront apartments in Melbourne and Sydney and a spectacular clifftop beach retreat, wants to end tax breaks for future investors.
The property wealth of the Greens’ candidate for Kooyong, some of it hidden within company structures or registered to his wife, sits in gleaming contrast to the policies of his new party, which laments a “rigged’’ housing system that enriches investors while locking first-time buyers out of the market.
…None of these changes will put a dent in the wealth of Mr Burnside, a $15,000-a-day QC who, despite his preparedness to work pro-bono for refugees and other human rights causes over the past 20 years, has managed to acquire 10 properties.
If house prices fall as a result, how will the changes not dent Mr Burnside’s wealth? Leith and I own our own homes. We lose big when the market corrects. We persist because it is the right thing to do.
That this attempt to paint hypocrisy comes from The Australian, a profitless loss leader run to benefit other businesses like realestate.com.au, is pretty much all you need to know about hypocrisy.
