WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Labor MP Julian Hill has been criticised by an 'Anti-Corruption Institute' professor over a multi-million dollar property portfolio.
OUR VERDICT
False. The professor cited in the post is fake and there is no record of the quote attributed to the supposed institute.
AAP FACTCHECK - A fictional anti-corruption expert is being used to criticise a federal Labor MP's supposed multi-million dollar property portfolio.
Social media posts claim that a professor from an anti-corruption group has taken aim at Labor MP Julian Hill's purported property portfolio, which allegedly includes three multi-million dollar properties.
But the professor isn't real and appears to have been created by X's AI assistant, Grok.
The false claims are included in a graphic that was first posted on X and then to Instagram.
It is headlined "Julian Hill's networth [sic] massively increased since joining Labor" and claims the MP has seen his wealth rise from less than $1 million to more than $10 million.
It claims this includes a real estate portfolio worth $10 million spread across three properties in Victoria and NSW.
It ends with a quote attributed to "Professor Eleanor Vance" from an "Anti-Corruption Institute".
"The timing of these wealth accumulations raises serious questions about potential conflicts of interest," it reads. "Full transparency is essential."
"Labor Minister @JulianHillMP belongs in jail, not in Parliament," one X post sharing the graphic reads.
The graphic has also been included in an Instagram video that has received more than 140,000 views.
There is no record that the professor quoted in the graphic exists and AAP FactCheck was also unable to find any record of the quote attributed to them.
The so-called Anti-Corruption Institute is also not an active advocacy group in Australia.
While a group with a similar name has a Facebook page, it has not posted in more than six years and the group's website is defunct.
There is no record that Professor Eleanor Vance was ever associated with that "institute".
The properties the graphic claims Mr Hill owns include a $2.5 million residential property in Dandenong, Victoria, a $3.2 million commercial building in Lakemba, NSW and a $4.3 million beachfront home in Bentleigh East, Melbourne.
However, Bentleigh East is several kilometres from the coast.
None of these properties are listed in Mr Hill's parliamentary disclosures, which include four properties in Melbourne, Eden NSW and Canberra.
The MP has disclosed his and his partner's real estate interests since he entered parliament in 2016, as required.
His 2016 register of interests declared three properties in Melbourne - a family home in Port Melbourne, an investment property in Reservoir, Melbourne and a 60 per cent share of a property for "family support and investment" in Kingsville, Melbourne (p3).
He sold the Reservoir property (p21), then in October that year declared a 52 per cent share in a two-bedroom apartment in Kingston, Canberra (p24).
In August 2019, he sold the Kingsville property, according to a later disclosure (p7).
His register was updated again in 2022 to add a property in Eden, NSW, owned jointly with his partner (p6).
A property in Dandenong, Victoria was also declared in 2022 (p3) under liabilities rather than ownership and was described as a residential lease and personal residence organised through a real estate agency.
In Mr Hill's latest declaration, the Dandenong property is also listed under the real estate he owns as "residential lease/personal residence" (p3).
This declaration also lists the Port Melbourne, Kingston and Eden properties as those that Mr Hill owned or had a stake in (p3).
While politicians have failed to properly update their registers in the past, there are no reports Mr Hill has failed to disclose his real estate holdings since being elected.
The X user who first posted the graphic was also behind a similar graphic targeting federal housing minister Claire O'Neil, which has also been debunked by AAP FactCheck.
The graphic targeting Ms O'Neil featured a watermark from X's AI assistant, Grok, that is absent from the graphic targeting Mr Hill.
However, the graphic targeting Mr Hill has numerous errors consistent with AI generation, including missing figures and garbled text in the caption.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, BlueSky, TikTok and YouTube.
