Aussie rich listers at war: Dick Smith blasts billionaire Harry Triguboff and accuses him of 'utter greed' over his latest demands: 'You have enough money'

Published: 22:52, 28 July 2026 | Updated: 22:53, 28 July 2026 Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith has launched an extraordinary attack on billionaire property developer Harry Triguboff, accusing him of 'utter greed' after he argued soaring house prices and higher immigration were essential for Australia's future. Triguboff, Australia's second-richest person with an estimated fortune of $29.65 billion, lamented falling property prices in an impassioned note published on Meriton's website earlier this month. 'It's no good writing that prices are dropping. We must also say what must be done for prices to rise,' he wrote. '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.' Harry Triguboff believes the solution to an ailing housing market is more migrants Meriton, founded by Harry Triguboff, is one of the biggest property developers in the country But Smith, who has an estimated net worth of $60 million, declared Triguboff's comments as outrageous and greedy. '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. '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. Dick Smith has accused Harry Triguboff of showing 'utter greed' in calling for more migration '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!' Immigration has been at the forefront of Australian politics this year, with One Nation and the Coalition attempting to outmanoeuvre one another with polices focused on stemming immigration to help cool the housing market.  Smith also suggested there were some more cynical reasons behind Triguboff's comments, pointing to his property portfolio as an example Pauline Hanson has made migration caps a key part of her platform One Nation in particular has enjoyed a rapid ascent in polling, fuelled by its migration policy that would see people on foreign visas capped to 130,000 per year - a reduction of 570,000 from current levels.  But Smith said the major parties needed to go further and lay out a detailed population limit for Australia. 'Eight out of ten Australians I talk to want a population plan, and they don't want it to be discriminatory – they want it to be for an amount of people that they can give a good life to,' Smith said. 'We need our political parties to do the same thing; to work out how many people we can give a good life to and work towards that – and it's certainly not 100 million.' 'Even The Greens have no population plan – it's just endless growth.' 'There's no doubt One Nation is getting support because they're going to reduce the immigration level, which is sensible.' Smith also warned that unchecked population growth could lead to food shortages. 'At the moment we're having problems with the Murray Darling Basin producing enough food, so if you increase the population by four times, you're going to need four times as much food,' he said. 'The wealth in this country comes from our iron ore and food exports, and that's finite, so we should get the experts to say what an optimum number of people is and work towards that in a non-discriminatory way.'