A five-bedroom harbourside compound, a cattle farm and a coastal retreat: Inside the privileged life of Joe Hockey, who doesn't think poor people drive cars



Treasurer Joe Hockey's property portfolio is worth an estimated $10 million

He owns luxury properties in Sydney and Canberra as well as a cattle farm and a beach house with ocean views



Mr Hockey caused uproar when he said poor people don't need cars



His comments came as the government looks to reintroduce a twice-yearly indexation increases on petrol



'The poorest people either don't have cars or ... don't drive,' Mr Hockey says

Welfare groups have hit back at him saying he is out of touch with people



Treasurer Joe Hockey's personal wealth has come under the spotlight after his comments that 'poor people don't drive cars' led to accusations that he is a 'cigar-chomping Foghorn Leghorn' who is out of touch with Australians.



Mr Hockey and his millionaire banker wife Melissa Babbage, own four properties between them, including a five-bedroom harbourside family home in Hunters Hill, one of Sydney's wealthiest harbourside suburbs, believed to be worth more than $5 million, which they bought for $3.5 million in 2004.



Their $10 million property portfolio also includes a 200 hectare cattle farm in Queensland and a beautiful six-bedroom coastal retreat with 180-degree views of the beach in Stanwell Park, an hour south of Sydney. Mr Hockey's statement of registrable interests, made in 2010, also lists him as joint owner of a property in the prestigious Canberra suburb of Forrest.



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Joe Hockey came under fire for his comments, which he made on ABC radio earlier this week Joe Hockey was pictured enjoying a cigar after delivering his May budget, in which he declared Australia to be a nation of 'lifters not leaners'

FULL COFFERS: INSIDE JOE HOCKEY'S PROPERTY PORTFOLIO

The treasure r and his wife own four pr op erties with an estimated total value of more than $10 million. They include: Five bedroom, turn-of-the-century mansion in Hunters Hill, one of Sydney's most expensive suburbs

200-hectare cattle farm in Queensland, with a homestead

Six-bedroom holiday house with 180-degree water views in Stanwell Park, one hour south of Sydney

Residence in Forrest, one of the most elite suburbs of Canberra



Mr Hockey has come under fire after remarking yesterday that rich people spend more on fuel than poor households because poor people don't have cars or don't drive far.



'The poorest people either don't have cars or actually don't drive very far in many cases,' he told ABC Radio in Brisbane.



Mr Hockey has previously insisted that while his opponents might run the 'wealthy line', the money really belongs to his wife, who until 2011, worked as head of the foreign exchange and global finance division of Deutsche Bank.

But Mr Hockey's life hasn't been one you would typically associate with struggle. The treasurer, who was pictured enjoying a cigar outside parliament after announcing his federal budget in May, attended the elite St Aloysius' College in Milson's Point.

When he left home for university, he attended one of the country's most expensive university residences, St John's College at the University of Sydney, a popular institution for Sydney's private school educated children.



It was at Sydney University that he got his start in politics, elected as the president of the Student Representative Council.



In his statement of registrable interests of interests in 2010 Mr Hockey lists that he is a patron of two north shore golf clubs, a member of the North Shore Historical Society and a member of the Royal Sydney Yacht Squadron, among other charitable, sporting and cultural groups.



Joe Hockey claims his extensive wealth, which includes a property portfolio worth more than $10 million, really belongs to his wife Melissa Babbage, who was an executive banker with Deutsche Bank The controversial fuel excise has attracted criticism from Labor, the Greens and the head of the Nationals who claimed the measures would hit rural Australians harder than city-dwellers An aerial shot of Joe Hockey's cattle farm in Queensland

Mr Hockey's comments about the driving habits of poor came as the government wants to reintroduce twice-yearly indexation of the fuel excise, a budget measure opposed by both Labor and the Greens who say it will hit low-income families the hardest.

The comment drew a rebuke from Labor leader Bill Shorten and some welfare groups.



'Are you serious, Joe Hockey? Are you really the cigar chomping, Foghorn Leghorn of Australian politics where you're saying that poor people don't drive cars?' Mr Shorten told reporters in Perth.



Mr Hockey today dismissed Labor criticism that he was out of touch with everyday Australians, calling Labor 'hypocrites' and saying 'I don't care about that commentary,' while speaking to ABC Radio.

A number of politicians from Mr Hockey's own Coalition have spoken out about the controversial budget measure, concerned that it will hit rural communities hardest.



NSW Nationals senator John Williams says people in the bush need cars, a point echoed by Queensland Liberal National senator Ian Macdonald.



'You have to have a car whether you're rich or poor, you need a vehicle to be able to get from one place to the other,' he told ABC Radio on Thursday.



'Regional Australians don't have the alternative of public transport of other means of getting there.'



But the treasurer disagreed, saying there was a clear trend that showed the higher the household income, the more fuel taxes were paid.



St Vincent de Paul Society chief executive John Falzon said the treasurer was making a massive assumption.

'In fact many low-income households are heavily dependent on quite old motor vehicles that are not terribly fuel efficient as their only means of transport,' he told Fairfax Media.

The Federal Government wants to reintroduce twice-yearly indexation of the fuel excise On Wednesday, Joe Hockey brushed off the controversy surrounding his comments

Cheaper housing was also often located in areas that were poorly served by transport, but far from jobs, so they have to travel long distances at times.

When quizzed by reporters in Perth later on Wednesday, Mr Hockey was unrepentant, labelling the reaction to his comments as 'hysteria'.

'The fact is that there is a clear trend in Australia - the higher the household income the more fuel taxes are paid by the household,' he said.

His office also released figures that showed average weekly expenditure on petrol ranges from $16.36 for those on the lowest income to $53.87 among the highest incomes.

Households in relatively disadvantaged areas were also less likely to own motor vehicles than those in relatively advantaged areas.