In case you were ever curious about how much Australia’s wealthiest are pocketing… you better brace yourself.
As the financial uncertainty and cost-of-living crisis drag on, a new Oxfam report has revealed just how much Australia’s billionaire elite are raking in.
As it turns out, the 47 billionaires of this country — which includes the likes of mining moguls Gina Rinehart and Andrew Forrest, Atlassian chief executive Mike Cannon-Brookes, and Meriton founder Harry Triguboff — saw their collective wealth soar by a staggering AUD$28 billion in 2024 alone.
They’re reportedly making an average of AUD$67,000 an hour. Or, to crunch the numbers for you, a considerable 1,300 times higher than that of the average Australian worker.
Billionaires making in an hour what most of us don’t even make in a year?? Shocking. Source: maselkoo99 / Getty Images
Unfortunately it doesn’t stop there because globally, billionaire wealth grew by a jaw-dropping AUD$3 trillion last year, working out to around AUD$8.4 billion a day.
Just to really drive the point home — that’s three times faster than the previous year, putting us on track to have at least five trillionaires by the end of the decade. Last year, Oxfam had predicted the emergence of one trillionaire within a decade.
According to Oxfam Australia chief executive Lyn Morgain, there are two key drivers for this astronomical growth: generational wealth (aka an inheritance) and the historic and ongoing impacts of colonialism.
Over a third (35 per cent) of billionaire wealth in Australia comes from wealth being handed down.
“Because billionaire wealth is often rooted in unearned privilege, much of it tied to intergenerational advantage and colonial powers, much of it goes effectively untaxed,” Morgain remarked.
“Meanwhile, money desperately needed in Australia and abroad to tackle social issues such as access to housing and to respond to worsening humanitarian emergencies, is being siphoned off to the bank accounts of the super-rich. This is not just bad for the economy — it’s bad for humanity.”
Ahead of the Federal Election later this year, Morgain urged the government to address this growing concern.
“As the Federal Election looms, it’s critical that our political leaders take bold steps to ensure the super-rich pay their fair share of taxes, so we can fund essential services like healthcare, education, and climate action — and build a fairer society for all,” she said.
Oxfam has also called for a billionaire tax to ensure Australia’s richest individuals and corporations pay their fair share of tax to even the scales.
Their recommendations include a wealth tax on Australia’s super-rich as well as a permanent crisis profits tax on big corporations. You know, so that when crises hit, corporations can’t profiteer like they did during the pandemic.
The timing of this report couldn’t be more fitting, coinciding with the gathering of world leaders and business elites this week at the high-profile World Economic Forum in Switzerland and, of course, the inauguration of billionaire president Donald Trump.
“The capture of our global economy by a privileged few has reached heights once considered unimaginable,” Morgain pointed out.
“The crown jewel of this oligarchy is a billionaire president, backed and bought by the world’s richest man Elon Musk, running the world’s largest economy.
“We present this report as a stark wake up-call that the futures of the vast majority of the global population are being crushed by the enormous wealth of a tiny few.”
Let’s hope the people at the top are listening.
Lead image: Marc Grimwade, Rohan Thomson, The Washington Post / Getty Images
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