They earn double the median salary, some have had high-paying professional careers, but more state MPs on $172,000 a year are not immune to the state’s housing affordability crisis.
Member for Myall Lakes Tanya Thompson rents, Fairfield MP Dave Saliba is a rent-vestor , while minister Jodie Harrison owns a home in Surry Hills but rents her principal residence in her electorate of Charlestown, near Newcastle.While the issue of housing affordability has previously been confined to low-paid and essential workers, the importance of getting the policy settings right has been brought into stark relief for some MPs.
Campbelltown MP Greg Warren, who owns two investment properties, said he had been fortunate to buy some property when he was a truck driver. Dalton owns partial share in several farms. She said the failure of successive governments’ housing policies was to blame when for the affordability of housing.“I have worked bloody hard, deriving my income from farming,” she said. “It has been poor government policy over several years, the government hasn’t built any social and affordable housing.”
One MP, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, expressed concern that it was difficult to attract smart and successful people into politics, due to intense public scrutiny.