Australians have slammed controversial immigration minister Tony Burke after learning he owns six properties, the equal second-most of any politician.
The Labor member for the immigrant-dominated seat of Watson in Western Sydney, nicknamed “Tony Burka” by critics for his pro-Muslim and pro-Palestinian refugee policies, owns homes in Punchbowl in his electorate and in Belconnen in Canberra, as well as four investment properties.
According to his register of interests, Mr Burke owns investment properties in the Meander Valley, Sorell and the Huon Valley in Tasmania, and in Port Phillip in Victoria, all shared with his wife except for Meander Valley.
I didn’t realize that the current Aussie immigration minister has 6 houses, the equal 3rd highest in parliament
Graphic: AFR pic.twitter.com/HMQVra4hRJ
— Tarric Brooker aka Avid Commentator
(@AvidCommentator) May 12, 2025
“I didn’t realise that the current Aussie immigration minister has 6 houses, the equal 3rd highest in parliament,” wrote political commentator Tarric Brooker on X on Monday along with a graphic from the Australian Financial Review.
The graphic shows Liberal-National MP Karen Andrews and Labor’s Michelle Ananda-Rajah on top of the list with seven properties, followed by Mr Burke, and Labor MPs Louise Miller-Frost and Brendan O’Connor with six each.
Many Aussies responded by accusing Mr Burke of having a conflict of interest, having been in charge of the migration portfolio for much of Labor’s last term in government where more than 1.5 million immigrants were let into the country during a housing crisis, pushing prices up.
“When the current immigration minister owns six houses, you know the housing crisis is here to stay,” Sustainable Population Australia responded.
“Ah, immigration numbers and lack of new/affordable housing supply now makes plenty of sense (political self-interest!),” one person wrote.
“He should be named Minister for Inflated House Prices,” joked another.
One simply asked: “Conflict of interest perhaps?”
Mr Burke, whose electorate was 25.1% Islamic and just 45% Australian-born at the time of the 2021 Census, was targeted by a new Muslim voting bloc ahead of the May 3 federal election and the Coalition accused him of creating a new permanent visa pathway for Gazan refugees as a result.
But according to votes counted so far Mr Burke enjoyed a 3.9% swing towards him despite his first preference votes falling by 6.1%.
The house controversy comes after Mr Burke was accused of “vote buying” and “seat stacking” by his political opponents for hosting a series of large-scale citizenship ceremonies in multicultural electorates around Australia.
Almost 13,000 immigrants – about 20% of them Indian – were given citizenship within a period of weeks, including 6,000 in just three days during an event at Sydney’s Olympic Park.
An attendee said officials from the Australian Electoral Commission were “working the crowd” to inform people of their voting rights and responsibilities, and photos showed a large screen encouraging the new citizens to enrol to vote.
A record 1.4 million new voters took part in the federal election, and about 30% were “new migrants”, the AEC revealed last month.
Header image: Tony Burke Labor volunteers (Facebook).
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