Mehreen Faruqi keeping mum after offloading landholding in Lahore

Sydney Morning Herald

8 hours ago

Much to the delight of Labor hacks, the Greens party room contains more than a few landlords, with their number only strengthened after voters purged the rabid renter Max Chandler-Mather from parliament.
Now comes the news that NSW senator and deputy leader Mehreen Faruqi, once owner of four properties, appears to be whittling down her portfolio.
CBD brought word last year that Faruqi had sold a four bedder in Port Macquarie for $920,000, taking home a tidy profit after nixing plans to bulldoze native trees and build two townhouses on the land.
Now, according to parliamentary disclosures, Faruqi appears to be parting with a parcel of land in her home city of Lahore, Pakistan, where she grew up before migrating to Australia in the 1990s. The senator has held the 500-square-metre land holding since before she entered federal parliament back in 2018, after a five-year stint in the NSW upper house.
And the reason for the sale? The good senator and her team didn't enlighten us. But Faruqi's Pakistani roots have long made her a target for all manner of nasty commentary. Last year, the Federal Court ruled that One Nation leader Pauline Hanson had racially vilified Faruqi in a tweet telling her senate colleague to 'go back to Pakistan'.
No doubt such nastiness would've escalated had Faruqi replaced Adam Bandt as Greens leader. Instead, Larissa Waters ran unopposed, and in the race to be deputy, Faruqi beat Dorinda Cox, who promptly defected to Labor.
Waters, for what it's worth, owns just one residential property in Brisbane.
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