Speculation is rife this morning that James Packer will continue his retreat from media ownership by selling out of Foxtel. They say the mark of a successful businessman is that your successes outnumber your failures. If that’s right, then Packer is sitting pretty. He’s no longer Australia’s richest man, and he may never shake off […]

It wasn’t so long ago that Australia’s gentlemen clubs were regarded as havens of privilege, power and money. As late as 1994, the Liberal Party anointed its new leader in a private room at the Melbourne Club on Collins Street, where party president Tony Staley told Alexander Downer the job could be his. Not that […]

Queensland’s next (most likely) premier is a very brave man who’s not short of answers to the state’s key problems.

The House of Commons committee investigating phone hacking at the News of the World is already three months overdue with its report because members have been arguing about how hard to whack James Murdoch. So will they brand him a liar or settle for chump? And just what is the evidence against him? Phone hacking […]

Iron ore billionaire Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest is one of Wayne Swan’s least favourite people. But we’re sure the feeling is mutual. After all, the World’s Best Treasurer has accused Australia’s second-richest resident of working against the national interest, not paying his fair share of tax and endangering our peace and prosperity. It’s a surprise he hasn’t […]

There’s much more to Gina Rinehart’s brutal courtroom drama than the battle to determine who controls more than $3 billion worth of assets in the Margaret Hope Hancock Trust, which was set up by Gina’s father Lang Hancock in 1988. Court documents released yesterday reveal that Gina and her companies have promised to pay 25% […]

If money talks, then no one in Australia shouts louder than Gina Rinehart, who is now a billionaire 17 times over. But is anybody listening — apart from Wayne Swan — and can she use her massive fortune to buy influence over two of Australia’s most famous newspapers? The Power Index reckons the answer is no — or not yet — despite her recent […]

Australia’s best-known Boy Scout has been dubbed a hypocrite and a shameless self-promoter. But he’s also gutsy, generous and passionate about making the world a better place: the archetypal rich crusader. And he’s surprisingly likeable in the flesh. If you’re used to seeing Dick Smith on A Current Affair you may have got the impression he’s a […]

Entrepreneur Dick Smith has defended Gina Rinehart’s Fairfax share raid, saying that more old-style media proprietors would be good for Australia. Smith, profiled today as number four on our Rich Crusaders list, says he has no problem with media owners exerting editorial influence. “I don’t mind her going after Fairfax,” he told The Power Index. […]

Rob Purves is using the fortune he made in nursing homes and railway locomotives to bankroll troops willing to fight the climate and mining wars. He’s also president of WWF Australia, the local branch of the World Wide Fund for Nature. And in the last two decades he has probably done more than anyone else […]

Former NSW Chief Justice Jim Spigelman will not only be a good chairman of the ABC — assuming he’s confirmed in the job, as Fairfax papers report today — but he could easily be the best. Certainly, he will be no government lackey. And he could be the ideal person to oversee Australia’s national broadcaster. That’s a remarkable thing […]

You won’t find Rupert Murdoch’s niece Eve Kantor (number 6 on our rich crusaders list) on the BRW Rich 200 or in Who’s Who. But she and her husband, Mark Wootton, have given away at least $50 million in the past 15-20 years to protect Australia’s environment. A big whack of that — about $10 million — has gone […]

Frank Lowy’s not on Wayne Swan’s billionaire hit list. Yet when it comes to foreign policy, this shopping king has more sway than the rest of Australia’s mega-rich combined. He is also one of the most powerful men in Australia. As founder of Westfield, he has had a huge impact on the way we live […]