Millionaire says workers should be laid off to ‘remind them of their place’

Gurner has previously faced criticism for suggesting that young people are unable to afford to purchase homes because they spend too much money on avocado toast.

The forty-one-year-old's latest comments come from his appearance at a property summit earlier this year, where he discussed the shift in workplace attitudes since the pandemic.

The Australian property developer said that "we need to see pain in the economy," and suggested that the unemployment rate should rise to 40-50% to minimise "arrogance in the employment market".

"There's been a systematic change where employees feel the employer is extremely lucky to have them," Gurner said, via BBC.

"We need to remind people they work for the employer, not the other way around."

Gurner later apologised for his comments in a post on LinkedIn.

" I made some remarks about unemployment and productivity in Australia that I deeply regret and were wrong," he wrote.

"There are clearly important conversations to have in this environment of high inflation, pricing pressures on housing and rentals due to a lack of supply, and other cost of living issues.

"My comments were deeply insensitive to employees, tradies and families across Australia who are affected by these cost-of-living pressures and job losses. 
 
"I want to be clear: I do appreciate that when someone loses their job it has a profound impact on them and their families and I sincerely regret that my words did not convey empathy for those in that situation."