Meriton founder Harry Triguboff says his lifelong goal has been to put roofs over Australians’ heads, insisting he has done “more than anyone else” to expand the nation’s housing supply after millionaire Dick Smith accused him of greed earlier this year.
Triguboff, Australia’s second-richest person with an estimated fortune of $34.1 billion, said he had remained focused on property and housing throughout more than six decades in the industry.
“It’s not about being the richest, it’s about winning,” the 93-year-old developer said.
“Rich” represents growth to Triguboff, while growth represents success. He said every battle he had fought over the past 60 years had helped him build more and achieve more.
“To this day, I am still working, still contributing and still fighting. I’m still doing what I’ve done my entire life. The extra zeros just help put more roofs over heads. It is about the people; it always has been.”
Triguboff said he believed no one had contributed more to Australian housing. He described himself as relentless once he committed to an objective, adding that he had repeatedly challenged those who stood in his way.
He said he recognised years ago that Australia was heading towards a housing shortfall, even as governments warned of an oversupply while he pushed to increase construction.
Triguboff estimates Meriton has supplied more than 80,000 homes, but said at least twice that number would have been needed to prevent the shortage now facing the country. Without his battles with the system, he added, the figure would have been roughly half as large.
Meriton founder Harry Triguboff says he has done more than anyone else to increase Australia’s housing supply
The property developer says governments must reform outdated laws to help Australians escape the housing crisis. Pictured is a Meriton apartment complex in Sydney
“I know there will never be another Harry Triguboff and there will only ever be one Meriton. Nobody could start today the way I started more than 60 years ago.”
He maintained that Meriton could not have delivered so many homes without his willingness to confront existing rules and institutions.
Triguboff also pointed to his early adoption of development models that have since become more common. “Built-to-rent and serviced apartments may seem like post-millennium ingenuity, but I was doing both back in the 1990s,” he said. Adapting to changing conditions, he added, meant having alternatives when the market shifted.
However, he said Australia would need further major changes to address its housing crisis.
“My job now is to work on the problems holding housing back. Too often that means fighting the governments and the banks. It would be far better if we could work together,” he said.
Triguboff argued that many long-standing laws, regulations and legislative settings must be modernised if Australia is to achieve meaningful change in housing.
He said skilled workers were being kept out of the country, while established developers and builders were collapsing under soaring construction costs. Essential workers, particularly in Sydney, were also leaving because they could no longer afford to live in the city.
“How is any of that driving the market in the right direction?” he asked.
Dick Smith has accused Harry Triguboff of “utter greed” over his calls for increased migration
Smith has also questioned Triguboff’s motives, suggesting the developer’s substantial property portfolio may influence his position
Triguboff has previously argued soaring house prices and higher immigration were essential for Australia’s future.
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‘If prices keep dropping, buyers will disappear. It’s natural instinct to adopt a wait and see approach. The mindset is, “Why buy today what will be cheaper tomorrow?”
‘As people stop buying, they stop working hard. What is the point of working hard if prices drop?’
Triguboff went on to say that to counter the issue, Australia’s population had to keep growing to turbocharge the market.
‘This country must grow. It’s too big to be left in its present state.
‘To develop we need more people, but we argue who should come. When they do come here, they mix very well with the local people.’
But Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith accused Triguboff of utter greed.
It’s a sign of utter greed from one of our billionaires, because he’s already worth over $20 billion dollars, and he just wants more money,’ Smith said.
The Meriton billionaire says he has supplied more than 80,000 homes across Australia but believes he needed to build at least twice that number to help prevent today’s housing shortage.
Triguboff is pictured with his late wife Rhonda
‘He’s got incredible political influence, and he’s encouraging politicians to have record numbers of immigration so he can make more money.
‘I don’t understand it. He could never spend his money; he’s in his 90s!’
‘I’m pro-immigration but at levels of 70,000 a year which would level off our population at 30 million,’ Smith said (Australia’s population hit 28 million in June).
‘Our present rate puts that number at over 100 million by the end of this century which is when our grandkids will still be alive … and not many people believe that’s a sensible number.
‘You can’t grow forever – our system of capitalism requires endless growth but that’s impossible.
‘If we planned now and went to 70,000 immigrants a year, then our birth rate is less than replacement level because Australian families are sensible.
‘They realise that having too many kids make it too hard for them to buy houses, which I believe should be a given right in Australia.
‘That’s now impossible for a lot of young people, and that’s because we’ve had such incredible population growth.’
Smith also suggested there were some more cynical reasons behind Triguboff’s comments, pointing to his property portfolio as an example.
‘He pushes for more immigration so he can sell more units; I think he owns over 1000 units that he rents out to people who can’t afford their own,’ he said.
‘This incredible difference in wealth really worries me; we have thirty per cent of our population living pay packet to pay packet with no savings at all, and then you have this billionaire worth over twenty billion who’s constantly pushing the government to get more people in so he can make more money.
‘Harry – you have enough money. You don’t need any more!’