The solo action self love of Master Carl Bates and his mystery 25 rentals

ByMartyn Bradbury

Wait, what the hell is this new madness?

Whanganui MP Carl Bates deletes FB post praising himself after housing revelations

First-term Whanganui MP Carl Bates, under fire for not declaring 25 properties he and his family are linked to, has found support on Facebook.

In a reply to an online debate on the controversy, a commenter said: “[s]o he sought advice from the Registrar, one of New Zealand’s most senior and respected public servants and acted according to the advice he received. End of story. Keep up the good work Carl”.

The only problem with the message is it was from Bates, via his official FB account; “Carl Bates MP for Whanganui”.

Contacted by the Herald, Bates said the mix-up was due to a member of his team.

…wait, wait, wait.

WHAT?

So this National Party stooge hides 25 properties from his disclosure, then has the balls to try and protect himself after it’s announced by anonymously commenting on the post and is too dumb to realise he’s made the anonymous comment without logging out?

The solo action self love of Master Carl Bates and his mystery 25 rentals demands more attention.

5 things:

1 – Doesn’t 25 rental properties highlight the obscenity of NZs housing market?

2 – Don’t you love that he anonymously tried to defend himself but was too dumb to log out properly?

3 – With 25 rentals, can this bloke come across any more white? He is the only person I’ve ever seen who can take ‘Cracker’ and Honky’ and make Cracker Honky work.

4 – How rich do you have to be to ‘forget’ 25 rental properties?

5 – This is Government of the landlords, by the landlords, for the landlords.

The naked privilege, wealth and attempt to give himself anonymous support manages to demonstrate who and what National really stand for than any other single MP.

These scum landlords are vultures and maggots feasting on our housing inequality, they shouldn’t;t be celebrated, they should be shunned and shamed.

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22 Comments

  2. Clearly they don’t want housing to become more affordable.

    They don’t care about anyone else.

    Our nation is being plundered.

  3. One reason NZ is a low wage economy is that successful people are criticized for their success.
    Rentals are an important part of the framework as not everybody wants to own their own home . A landlord should be condemned for rentals that are not up to scratch or overpriced but not because they are financially astute to be able to afford them .

    1. Trevor – I agree slumlords and rent-gougers should be condemned.

      But your argument that we have a low-wage economy simply because successful people are criticised, is very weak indeed.

      Rather, our low-wage economy ( and resulting high cost of living) is more related to the neoliberal destruction of our unions and – importantly- the extreme bias in our regressive tax system that favours untaxed capital gains primarily in the form of real estate. There too many examples to list here.

      If we fix our tax system, and rebalance organised labor, we might end up in a more egalitarian society.

      If we don’t, we are fucked.

    3. It was reported by The New Zealand Herald in September 2025 that Bates had created a trust shortly after his election as MP to transfer shares in family-run real estate investment companies he had owned. These companies owned 25 properties, a number of which were in Whanganui. These property ownerships were not disclosed on the parliamentary register of pecuniary interests. Bates has stated that the registrar of pecuniary interests, Maarten Wevers, advised him that “property held in a company whose shares are held by a trust, was not required to be declared.

      Tax dodger.

    4. Trevor what a load of bollocks. The people you voted for are forever making sure wages do not grow.

  4. We have shaken our heads and thought National had finally plumbed the depths, on a few occasions.
    There are many examples of the mis-placed acceptance of low-lives as candidates and they have become ministers, some of them. The present govt. has more than its fair share.
    Combine those with perhaps even less honest characters in ACt and Winnie-First and we have a corrupt govt, probably the worst in our history.
    This is pretty bad, But I’m sure they will surprise us again in the future, with how low they will go.
    Venal, vile and therefore incompetent. When they are all trying to clip the ticket savagely as individuals, there is no way for them to govern for us, in good faith.
    Like oil and water. Good faith and greed do not mix.

  5. Michael Wood and his share shenanigans doesn’t hold a candle to this Entitled Twit.
    Sack him Luxon, bar him from your caucus (fast becoming a carcass).

  6. I guess all circuses have their contingent of clowns but how come so many in this sicko CoC! Surely Bates should be fired immediately. Why should we put up with his corruption on top of the rest of the lies and corruption we are fed daily. He has to go. In fact it’s way past time for the whole damn lot of them to go NOW. And as for the latest B.S. RNZ-Reid poll – surely we don’t have that many dim-witted voters who truly think this appalling CoC is going to succeed. Are they so “sorted/wealthy” that they don’t give a damn about anything or anyone but themselves and of course their money? Seems like they have all lost their moral compass?

  7. Isn’t this guy the poster (white)boy for Natz economic policy. This is the epitome, the pillar, on which their whole economic policy rests.
    I don’t know why he didn’t shout it from the roofs (of his many houses) “I HAVE 25 HOUSES, LOSERS AND I’M GOING TO PASS EVERY BIT OF LEGISLATION THAT HELPS PEOPLE LIKE ME GET RICHER”
    Problem is, I guess that might have insulted poor little 5-House Luxon. Boy from provincial backwater does better than “internationally famous CEO who ran an airline

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