Australia has added 17 billionaires since last year to reach a record 178, with total wealth exceeding $686 billion, according to analysis by Oxfam. Source: ABC News.
The anti-poverty organisation said the collective wealth of Australia’s billionaires increased by $25.67 billion over the past year, equivalent to almost $50,000 per minute.
The eye-watering numbers are based on Oxfam’s analysis of the 2026 Australian Financial Review Rich List.
It found the 20 richest Australians held more wealth than the bottom 3 million households.
Oxfam Australia chief executive Jennifer Tierney said the figures highlighted the growing gap between Australia’s wealthiest people and ordinary households.
“There is something fundamentally wrong with a system where extreme wealth keeps skyrocketing while so many people are struggling to afford the basics,” she said.
“Without structural reform to the tax system, that divide will only deepen.”
While welcoming measures to ease cost-of-living pressure and reform current tax arrangements in the recent federal budget, Ms Tierney said the government did not “go far enough to address the scale of wealth inequality growing in Australia”.
“A fairer approach to taxing extreme wealth would help ensure governments can properly invest in affordable housing, health care, climate action and support for communities doing it tough here and abroad.”
On May 12, the government revealed sweeping changes to capital gains tax, negative gearing and family trusts, sparking backlash from some investors.
A Senate inquiry into the contentious tax change proposal is set to conclude late this month, before parliament rises for its winter break on July 2.
While wealth equality advocates are calling for more government action on tax reform, some researchers argue that the proposed budget “threatens to make all Australians poorer while doing nothing to reduce inequality”.
Michael Stutchbury, Centre for Independent Studies executive director, said Australia needed more billionaires, given the rich paid a disproportionately high share of taxes.
Mr Stutchbury, formerly editor-in-chief of the AFR, argued that an overly heavy tax system would encourage young Australian entrepreneurs to relocate to lower-taxing economies, such as the US, Singapore or New Zealand.
“This makes Australia a less attractive destination for the world’s entrepreneurs who could help make our economy more productive, boosting national incomes and wages,” he said.
FULL STORY
Oxfam research finds record number of Australian billionaires hold total wealth of $686b (ABC News)
