Rich Lister accounts face scrutiny as loophole closes

Tom McIlroy and Michael Bailey

Aug 4, 2022 – 9.36am

Subscribe to gift this article

Gift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.

Already a subscriber?

The private business dealings of many Rich Listers and some of Australia’s most influential business groups will be disclosed for the first time, as a 27-year-old loophole on the lodging of corporate accounts is finally closed by federal parliament.

About 1100 “grandfathered large proprietary companies” were exempted from Australian Securities and Investments Commission reporting requirements in a temporary plan first put in place by the Keating government in 1995.

Tom McIlroy is the Financial Review’s Canberra bureau chief based in the press gallery at Parliament House. He was previously the AFR’s political correspondent.

Michael Bailey writes on arts and culture, and edits Weekend Fin. He is a former editor of the Financial Review Rich List. He is based in Sydney.