Hockey charging taxpayers $1000 a month to stay at wife's house: report

Joe Hockey is under increasing scrutiny over rental ‘double dipping’ amid a report that he has charged taxpayers $184,000 to stay in his wife’s Canberra home.

Treasurer Joe Hockey (AAP Image/Lukas Coch) Source: AAP

A report published by News Corp on Sunday stated that the Treasurer has claimed an average of $1000-a-month in travel allowances since joining parliament in 1998.

The total equates to what the government provides unemployed people in Newstart payments.

The report comes less than a week after Mr Hockey came under fire for comments on housing affordability, telling Australians wanting to buy a house to get 'a good job that pays good money'.

They have since been labelled as out of touch by the Opposition, while Greens leader Richard Di Natale described them as "let them eat cake sort of stuff".

Mr Hockey also faced earlier criticism for what one voter called “double dipping” during his appearance on a special one guest episode of the ABC’s Q&A program last month.

Mr Hockey said the allowances were not taxpayer-funded subsidies, citing it as a payment that applies for public servants that travel away.

“It has been a common practice on all sides of politics because ultimately most people want to have the same place over a number of years where they can leave their toothbrush at night,” he said.

“That's what you want, instead of a hotel room or whatever the case or renting different accommodation as people do… I was away 185 days last year. You try to have the same bed, try to have the same place to leave a shirt.”

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann also weighed in on housing affordability on Sunday, telling Sky News that increasing housing supply with the help of state governments is a top priority for the Abbott Government.

“Working with the states on initiatives to increase supply, that will help make access to housing more affordable," he said.

Senator Cormann reiterated that the government had no plans to make changes to negative gearing, saying it would be "counterproductive".

He said if it was harder for people to invest in the private housing market it would reduce the supply of rental accommodation and increase rents.

"The Hawke government tried to make change in this space and very quickly had to reverse that position because of the effect it had on rental prices," he said.