So whose lobbying power really struck this year’s federal budget? Below are some of The Power Index’s top people picks … Simon Chapman, professor of public health at the University of Sydney It’s a grey day for jet-setting smokers, after the allowance for duty free ciggies was cut from 250 smokes to just 50. The measure […]

Regrets? Paul Howes has a few. Don’t look now, but self-described faceless man Paul Howes is having some regrets about his starring role in the disposal of ex-PM Kevin Rudd. The labour movement’s enfant terrible, you will remember, took part in that extraordinary Lateline interview to explain the coup just hours after it had taken place. Fast forward nearly two years […]

Rank the pollies. Seeing as you all had so much to say about Wayne Swan taking out the No. 1 spot in the Canberra list, we thought we’d give you the readers the opportunity to go and rank your very own politicians power list. Simply head over to our survey page and choose 10 names in order. We’ll reveal the results […]

Clive’s unsinkable ego. Just when we thought he’d said just about everything, Crazy Clive Palmer has done it again by announcing a tilt at federal politics and plans to construct a fleet of world-class luxury liners including — wait for it — a modern-day version of the RMS Titanic. The mining billionaire, whose predilection for giving money to the Liberal-National Party scored […]

Tony Abbott is a storyteller. And that’s the secret of his success as Australia’s most effective ever opposition leader.

Gina Rinehart v Rio Tinto over iron ore. There’s nothing like the promise of millions of dollars of mining royalties to bring old enemies together. In March 2010, Gina Rinehart lost a nine-year legal stoush with Angela Bennett and Michael Wright, the descendants of her father Lang Hancock’s business partner. Now, Rinehart, our no.3 most powerful Rich […]

Silks search for smoking gun. Big Tobacco has been in the High Court this week taking on the federal government’s plain packaging legislation, which will strip ciggie packs of their colourful brands and turn them into drab unappealing brown boxes. Silks acting for the cigarette giants say it’ll infringe on their property rights, while the federal government […]

Twiggy on the grassy knoll? Seething WA mining magnate Andrew Forrest stepped up his assault on Wayne Swan and Julia Gillard last night, accusing them of negotiating with the big miners behind Kevin Rudd’s back in 2010 while he was PM. “Unlike ourselves, where we were about to go public with it, she in fact called for the head of a democratically elected prime […]

OneSteel one day, Arrium the next. OneSteel CEO Geoff Plummer admitted over the weekend that his company’s new name, Arrium, is a made-up word. “But when it has to work in all those countries and it’s got to be safe when you Google it, you often fall back to made-up words,” he told the ABC’s Alan Kohler […]

Gunns one day, Enpax the next? Gunns CEO Greg L’Estrange isn’t one to avoid painful realities. Eighteen months ago he admitted defeat in the so-called forest wars, declaring the timber industry had been “out-thought and out-played” by environmentalists. Now, in a bid to restore Gunns’ ailing reputation and share price, he’s considering changing the company’s name and relocating its […]

The Howes manifesto. Union boss Paul Howes, who rarely lacks chutzpah, has outdone himself today. The AWU national secretary has released a bold reform agenda to save the manufacturing industry — particularly steelmaking. He wants the government to embrace the original, more comprehensive Resources Super Profits Tax, peg the Australian dollar to another currency and consider rewriting the Reserve Bank […]

Tex courts Twitter trouble. Two of the country’s most powerful PR guns are set to go head-to-head in what looks to be yet another case of 140 characters that may have been better left untweeted. PR legend-cum-motoring columnist John Connolly is suing Liberal Party pollster Mark Textor for allegedly sending a tweet that defamed him […]

Clover Moore told to pack her bags. We didn’t put Clover Moore on the Sydney power list because she’s ripped up Sydney sidewalks to install bike paths and opened the laneways for a new class of whiskey drinkers. While that was all certainly part of it, Moore took out the No. 4 spot because she makes big, bold decisions […]

Neil Chenoweth, the veteran journalist driving The Australian Financial Review’s coverage of alleged pay-TV piracy by a News Corp subsidiary, has been acclaimed as one of the country’s most forensic and tough-minded reporters — but also as a purveyor of beat-ups and conspiracy theories. Chenoweth’s allegations against News’ former anti-piracy unit, NDS, have attracted global attention and sparked […]

Kim Williams gets straight to the point. When The Power Index spoke to New Ltd boss Kim Williams late last year, he told us that he’s “not backward in coming forward … I’m not a great believer in toiling the soil before getting stuck into a problem”. We reckon he’s lived up to his word with his letter published […]

Gonski’s a tough act to follow. He’s got big shoes to fill: those of serial board member and recently anointed Future Fund chairman David Gonski, but Rick Holliday-Smith looks set to bring in a new era at the Australia Securities Exchange, where he was yesterday appointed chairman. Holliday-Smith will steer the ASX to take on its new and growing […]

Clap on for Kloppers. Just one executive of an Australian company made it onto the list of US business rag Barron’s best 30 CEOs in the world: BHP Billiton chief Marius Kloppers. Kloppers’ made the cut for the second year running because he “knows as much about doing business with China as anyone (except perhaps the Chinese?)”, wrote […]

Assange wants parliamentary privilege. We gave Julian Assange the No. 1 spot on our Thinkers power list because he’s sought, with much success, to revolutionise the way people leak confidential information. Now, he’s looking to simplify the process a little. In an interview with Fairfax’s Phillip Dorling published today, the WikiLeaks founder says that, should he win a Senate seat, he’ll make the […]

Dick Smith claims his beets are a good root. We all know nothing beets a good Aussie root. And thank heavens we’ve got Dick Smith to stand up for the farmers who produce it. What other squillionaire would spend his Saturday morning driving a truck to Manly and giving away cans of the stuff to […]

New rules for the megaphones. It’s been 12 years since John Laws and Alan Jones faced the cash-for-comment inquiry, but the Australian Communications and Media Authority is still firming up its rules on sponsor disclosure information. The ACMA released new commercial radio standards yesterday for how on-air presenters spruik products and services from sponsors, to take effect May 1, including a provision […]

McIver: the powerbroker behind Newman. If Campbell Newman becomes the premier of Queensland this Saturday, Queenslanders can thank one man, above all others, for getting him there: Bruce McIver. Although the cattle truck driver turned president of the Liberal-National Party can’t guarantee Newman will win his seat come Saturday, he had the clout to put […]

Qantas spinners fly the coop. Chief Qantas spinner Olivia Wirth will be scouring the resumes in coming weeks, after two of her direct reports suddenly quit the airline. The Australian Financial Review reports that Jim Carden, head of government and public affairs, and Justin Kelly, head of corporate communications, have both resigned “to pursue other interests”. The Power Index can’t blame them for looking […]

Gina Rinehart’s hired help. Veteran spin doctor Ian Smith of Bespoke Approach has just landed one of the toughest, and undoubtedly most lucrative, media gigs going around. The spinner and No. 10 on our lobbyist power list has been hired by Gina Rinehart to handle the intense media speculation surrounding the mining magnate’s family courtroom drama. While Smith told The Power Index he does […]