His daughter probably won’t vote for him. He won’t be premier, but if Jim Penman – the man behind Jim’s Mowing – can make his $10 million home worth less, he’ll be happy.
Millionaire lawnmower Jim Penman says his house is worth too much and he wants to see the price come down.
The Jim’s Mowing founder announced he is running for the Libertarian Party in the state seat of Northcote at the November Victorian election.
“We [he and wife Li] bought this house and the property next door for our conference centre 20 years ago for about $3 million. It’s now worth probably $10 million. We’ve done nothing. That’s just insane,” Penman tells Forbes Australia. “Why should stuff go up in value all the time? Who’s in favour of that, apart from people with multiple properties who are getting rich.
“I’ve got 10 kids, so I look at it differently. They want to buy houses.”
The founder of Australia’s most recognisable franchise business, Jim’s Group, will stand for the Libertarian Party in what Penman describes as a “deep-green” electorate, though in 99 years it has had only seven MPs, six of them Labor and one Green – Lidia Thorpe between 2017 and 2018.
Penman – who started mowing lawns while studying history at university, and turned it into a massive franchising operation after his thesis on the ebbs and flows of mankind was rejected – was driven to run by the rising cost of housing and rents, he says.
“It’s not going to be a career. The main thing that motivates me is the housing crisis. You’ve got young people unable to buy houses. Rent’s gone through the stratosphere.
Penman told Forbes Australia last year that his 10 children would not see much of his fortune, beyond a little help to get them into a house. Even then it’s difficult.
“My daughter and son-in-law turned up to rent a place the other day and there was 40 people applying for it. It’s just crazy. And this is all a result of deliberate government policy that says, don’t build, don’t build, don’t build.
“You bring a half a million people in every year and the government sits down and says, no, don’t build any more houses. How stupid is that?”
Penman joins a long list of prominent libertarians [see below], embracing the philosophy that advocates for minimal government intervention in both economic and personal affairs, prioritising individual liberty, free markets and voluntary exchange over state control.
Penman says the enormous red tape his business faces was another factor that drove him into politics, though he recognises much of that is Federal.
“But zoning is the thing that most gets to me. I just want to make a fuss about it. I’m not interested in becoming a premier or anything. I just want to draw attention to it.”
Penman appears in a video throwing $100 bills in the air – to illustrate the $33,000 cost to every taxpayer of various government burdens. “You look at wasted things like the Suburban Rail Loop, which is incredibly crazy that they’re doing it. It’s something that the vast majority of Victorians won’t ever need to use. And it’ll cost like $400 billion or whatever. The official cost estimate is $50 billion.]
“Then you’ve got government regulations. We’re knee deep in red tape and green tape. It’s just getting worse by the day.
“My wife’s a builder. You’ve got really cheap, good quality, basic buildings that are available in the EEC [Europe], for example, which is one of the most careful places on Earth.
“Can’t do it in Australia, doesn’t meet Australian standards … That’s everywhere. Every little regulation, this stupid greenwashing thing.”
Neither he, nor the party, had policies on other matters like health and education. Though he believes in cutting waste and paying teachers more.
Penman had previously supported the Liberal Party but grew disillusioned with it and began studying the other parties, he says.
“I’ve been looking around for quite a while. Now, obviously, the Labor Party is shocking, is an awful state. The Greens are, if anything, worse. They’d send us back to the stone age if they could.
“And I don’t have much faith in Liberals either. They’re an utter shambles of a party and they’re worse on zoning than Labor is. Labor has at least made some effort to change it, but Liberals just haven’t.
“I supported them. I’ve run fundraisers for them, all kinds of things for them, but not anymore. They’re just useless.”
Does he think he has a chance?
“I probably won’t get elected, but I hope to raise attention to the issues and if in the end there’s a strong Libertarian vote … big votes for these kinds of policies – affordable housing, affordable rents, keeping costs under control, getting rid of incredible numbers of government bureaucrats – a major party might look at it and say, ‘Wow, just maybe people don’t want incredibly expensive housing and rents. Maybe there’s some votes in this.”
Penman doesn’t know how much his tilt at public office will cost him. “It wouldn’t be more than $10,000, I would imagine, but they [The Libertarian Party] haven’t actually told me what I need to do.”
He will not be doorknocking. “Mostly we’ll be using social media. I’ve got a very good platform on social media.”
Penman doesn’t live in Northcote. He lives in Mooroolbark, further out on the eastern fringe of Melbourne. “I’m not standing where I am because I don’t really want to turf out the Liberal Party member [Aaron Violi]. I just think Northcote’s good. My daughter lives there. She probably won’t vote for me.”
“I just think standing for election is the best way to bring attention to it because people do not comprehend what the government’s doing and how bad they are.
“Let’s see what happens. I probably won’t be elected and I don’t think I’ll become premier either. I’d probably make a pretty awful premier. Hopefully, I’ll raise some attention.”
Billionaires leaning libertarian
- Peter Thiel – PayPal co-founder and tech investor is often associated with libertarian and anti-state views. He has backed a number of libertarian-leaning ventures, most notably funding the Seasteading Institute, which promotes the creation of autonomous floating “sea states” outside traditional government jurisdictions, as well as experiments in charter cities, crypto-based governance systems and other projects aimed at reducing reliance on government.
- Jeff Yass – American billionaire financier and co-founder of Susquehanna International Group is a registered Libertarian who donates to libertarian and conservative causes and serves on the executive advisory council of the libertarian-leaning Cato Institute.
- Travis Kalanick – Uber co-founder and tech billionaire who has been described as a passionate libertarian and admirer of Ayn Rand’s philosophy, though not politically active as a candidate.
- Mark Pincus – Founder of Zynga, who has publicly described his political views as libertarian, though his broader political engagement has included contributions to major party candidates.
- Joe Liemandt – Founder of Trilogy Software and ESW Capital; while not exclusively libertarian, he and his wife have donated to Libertarian National Committee causes.
- The Koch Family (Charles and late David Koch) – Industrialists known for decades of major support for libertarian and free-market causes in the U.S. political sphere; David Koch ran as the Libertarian Party’s vice-presidential candidate in 1980.
