Celeste Barber, Shane Fitzsimmons in, politicians out of Power 100
They play a role in shaping our everyday lives – whether in political arenas; on sporting fields or on social media. But who are they? And who wasn’t good enough to make the cut on Sydney’s Power 100 list. SEE THE FULL LIST
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The richest people on this year’s Sydney Power 100 list are a story straight out of the Silicon Valley playbook.
Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar, were tech-minded uni friends who decided they didn’t want a boss and launched a backyard business with a $10,000 credit card debt and an idea that was the software equivalent of building a better mousetrap.
Eighteen years later the Atlassian founders are each worth around $9 billion and live in neighbouring mansions on the Sydney Harbour foreshore.
They are among a clutch of rich listers who have made The Daily Telegraph’s list of this great state’s most influential people, the Sydney Power 100.
The self-made billionaire Frank Lowy is the second-richest on the Sydney Power 100, worth around $8.19 billion. He may have stepped away from business life — and thus slipped down the ranks of power since last year — but Sir Frank Lowy’s indelible mark in Australia and across the globe continues to influence how we shop and what we buy.
Kerry Stokes, worth $5.38 billion, is not on the list but his son Ryan Stokes is. Young stokes is boss of the $6.6 billion ASX-listed Seven Group holdings, overseeing everything from
mammoth mining trucks and equipment under the WesTrac brand, Coates Hire, the Seven network via its 40 per cent stake in Seven West Media and oil and gas outfit Beach Energy. Ryan in January announced a $10 million donation to the bushfire appeal, half from the family’s private investment vehicle, Australian Capital Equity.
James Packer’s travails with regulators and coronavirus have wounded his Crown Resorts business, pushing him down a notch on the Power 100 list. But he’s still very rich, worth around $4.55 billion. In January the family’s philanthropic foundation donated $5 million to the bushfire appeal.
Next richest from the Power 100 is Walker Corp CEO and co-founder Lang Walker. He has the impeccable timing of a billionaire — twice selling most of his stake in big property companies just before major global financial disasters and amassing a $4billion personal fortune along the way.
Nick Politis is a mover and shaker who has rocketed up the ranks on the Power 100 this year, and happens to be worth around $2 billion. He has been chairman of the Sydney Roosters for 25 years and is rugby league’s most influential official. He hasa direct line to Premier Gladys Berejiklian and is Australia’s biggest car dealer.
From Western Sydney are billionaire brothers Tony and Ron Perich, worth around $1.59 billion. The family started out as dairy farmers in Bringelly in the 1950s and have built a diversified empire with interests in property development transport, mining, wood shavings and fertiliser.
Ian Malouf gets a start on the Power 100 for the first time this year and is worth around $550 million. He started out with a single truck collecting rubbish and is freshly minted after selling a stake in his Dial-A-Dump skip bin business for more than half a billion dollars. Now he runs the uber of superyachts, Ahoy Club, leasing luxury vessels to the super rich.
Other rich listers who make the Power 100 are Harvey Norman’s Gerry Harvey and Katie Page, worth $1.58 billion, art and media businesswoman Judith Neilson, worth $1.25 billion and property developer Jim Shang Jin Lin, worth $845 million.
There’s a long list of people who have dropped off the Power 100 and just as many making a debut in 2020. Some key events have driven the changes, like two elections and bushfires.
Two first timers on this year’s list made their mark doing great things in the bushfires. RFS boss Shane Fitzsimmons — he stepped up when Scott Morrison was in Hawaii and worked tirelessly to get lifesaving messages and information to the public.
Celeste Barber — the comedian who takes the micky out of insta-stars — raised an incredible $52 million for the bushfire recovery in just two weeks.
In sport Sam Burgess has retired injured from the Rabbitohs but his influence is growing behind the scenes at the club and there’s talk of him becoming a player manager.
“Among Sydney’s movers and shakers, power keeps a decidedly up-tempo rhythm. The idle, the complacent and those off their game are swept aside with ruthless efficiency by contenders to the crown,” The Daily Telegraph’s Editor Ben English said.
“This year’s Daily Telegraph Sydney Power 100 demonstrates this force. Twenty-three occupants of last year’s list have vanished. And, to illustrate the capricious and elusive nature of Sydney power, their conquerors are a disparate bunch, in terms of age, ethnicity, gender and wealth.
“Money and connections are not the only avenues to this select club. Character also goes a long way.” he said.
Dave and Candice Warner have made the list for the first time. He’s come a long way from sandpaper-gate at the London test in 2018 and has redeemed himself with the bat.
Karl Stefanovic is back on Today and debuts on the 2020 list with shoe-designer wife Jasmine Yarbrough.
In entertainment, a new name you may not know but teenage girls do is Ruel, the 17-year-old singer who began his meteoric rise busking in the Northern Beaches.
Now to politics. Much has changed with the Power 100 rankings since the ALP bombed at the federal and state elections last year.
Kaila Murnain — she was self-described “boss lady” at ALP headquarters in Sussex St and was No. 59 on last year’s list. This year she’s gone. She stood aside not long after taking the stand at the Independent Commission Against Corruption’s investigation into an alleged cash donation to the ALP of $100,000 in an Aldi bag.
Also out in 2020 is Chris Bowen — he was No. 33 last year when he was in line to become the next federal treasurer. Then Labor’s election fortunes sunk on policies he championed, reforming franking credits, negative gearing and family trust tax arrangements.
Tanya Plibersek — she was Labor’s most powerful representative in Sydney last year but is off the list after relinquishing her position of party deputy after the election loss, lowering her profile.
A number of former prime ministers have been dropped this year. Malcolm Turnbull — he was No. 68 in 2019 when he forced a by-election that narrowed the Coalition’s hold on power in parliament. His power was neutralised when the federal election returned to the Coalition the electorate of Wentworth, and a comfortable national majority.
Tony Abbott is also off the list after losing his seat of Warringah. Scott Morrison’s trusted team of staff makes its debut on the list this year after orchestrating his “miracle” election win.
Also in politics, state Labor leader Jodi McKay debuts this year while her predecessor Michael Daley has been dropped.
“There are positions that will always deliver unrivalled power: the Police Commissioner, the Premier and our numero uno, the Messiah from the Shire, Mr Morrison. ScoMo has had a torrid summer that has battered his approval ratings,” Mr English said.
“But there’s no current threat to his reign as top dog. He embodies Sydney’s relative influence on national affairs as Sydney’s fourth PM from the past six.”
New to the list from business is Ian Malouf, he started a skip bin business, sold it for half a billion dollars and now runs the “uber of superyachts”, Club Ahoy, a company that rents out luxury boats.
In media Ita Buttrose makes her debut as ABC chair while outgoing Seven boss
Tim Worner has been dropped in favour of his successor James Warburton.