The Sydney Power 100: The 100 most powerful people in Sydney 60-41
Hollywood stars, sporting champions and political leaders make up the latest instalment in the search for Sydney’s most powerful. The Daily Telegraph’s Sydney Power 100 is the ultimate guide to who really runs this city.
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Hollywood stars, sporting champions and political leaders make up the latest instalment in the search for Sydney’s most powerful.
The Daily Telegraph’s Sydney Power 100 is the ultimate guide to who really runs this city.
60. Lucy Turnbull — Greater Sydney Commission Chief Commissioner
Up until August 24 last year Lucy Turnbull’s position on the list of power and influence would undoubtedly have been much higher.
After all, the person who shared pillow talk with the prime minister clearly had a great deal of influence and access to power — no matter what the politicians tell us.
But that all changed with the leadership coup where Mr Turnbull was ousted and Scott Morrison installed in the Lodge. Mrs Turnbull now makes the list on her own, and considerable, merits.
The businesswoman and entrepreneur, whose background is in law and investment banking, was lord mayor of Sydney from 2003 to 2004, the first woman to hold the post. She followed in the footsteps of her great-grandfather Sir Lord Hughes, who was the first Lord Mayor of Sydney. She comes from political stock, her father was Attorney-General of Australia, and has great connections including current Lord Mayor Clover Moore.
Another friend, former premier Bob Carr, first introduced Lucy to her husband when she was 19 and Malcolm was 23 at a dinner party in his home in Maroubra.
On her 60th birthday last year she said: “My family is my proudest achievement … Malcolm, kids and now grandchildren.”
However, she has many more achievements under her belt with more to come. She sits on numerous boards, including that of the Biennale of Sydney, and exercises a huge say over the future of the city as the chief commissioner of the Greater Sydney Commission.
It is under her stewardship that the Greater Sydney Commission has championed the ideal of the three cities — the Eastern Harbour City, the Central Parramatta River City and a Western City in and around the new airport.
“The three cities is a bold, new vision for Australia’s largest metropolitan area,” Mrs Turnbull said when unveiling the vision at The Daily Telegraph’s Bradfield oration two years ago.
59. Kaila Murnain — NSW Labor General Secretary
Kaila Murnain took on the Labor Party boys’ club and won.
The first woman to be the general secretary of the NSW ALP, the 32-year-old landed one of the toughest jobs in politics in 2016 after her predecessor Jamie Clements was forced to resign.
Critics suggested she had been “chosen” by Labor elders as a means of retaining control of head office. If that was the case, the plan has backfired spectacularly with Murnain firmly putting her stamp on the role.
She introduced the party’s first code of conduct, compulsory ethics training for MPs and candidates, and imposed a “dry office” rule at the party’s Sussex Street headquarters.
Taking a zero tolerance approach to party rule breaches, Murnain expelled former Labor MP Belinda Neal and high profile Fairfield City Mayor Frank Carbone from the party. Clements was also thrown out.
She endured intense lobbying — and internal threats — when she chose to back Michael Daley as leader, instead of rival MP Chris Minns, after Luke Foley’s resignation.
Murnain is facing a big year with two elections within weeks — NSW voters head to the polls March 23 and the federal election follows, most likely in May.
Her other test will be navigating the ALP through an Independent Commission Against Corruption donations investigation. The party claims the donations were received in 2015, before Murnain’s appointment.
58. Lance and Jesinta Franklin — Sydney Swans Star and Model
He’s a superstar footballer who’s arguably the most dynamic player of his generation. She’s a glamour model and former Miss Universe Australia.
Together, Lance and Jesinta Franklin are a juggernaut that has leveraged their high profile individual careers into fashion, property, sponsorships and TV.
When Franklin defected to the Sydney Swans in 2014 he was AFL’s first $10 million man, and the “Buddy effect” is credited with driving club membership records and raising the profile of the sport in NSW’s NRL stronghold. She has built a brand and business that includes ambassadorial roles with brands including Moet & Chandon, Dior, Olay and Tiffany & Co. Even her publicity shy husband now has an apparel brand.
Not bad for a power couple that Jesinta Franklin insisted earlier this year “don’t go out of our way to attract attention. We get home, put our PJs on, cook dinner and argue about who’s going to do the dishes.”
57. Brian and Bobbi Houston — Hillsong
Hillsong Church’s Harley Davidson-riding pastor Brian Houston and wife Bobbie preach to a global audience from their Pentecostal church in Sydney.
Their influence is enormous. Prime Minister Scott Morrison has praised Houston as one of his mentors and the church claims to have 100,000 parishioners at its churches worldwide every Sunday, including celebrities Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez.
The church is a music powerhouse, with the songs it pumps out regularly topping the Billboard Christian Artist Chart and being sung in an estimated 30 million churches every week.
The Houstons and the church have withstood a child abuse scandal involving Brian’s father Frank and have gone from strength to strength.
Congregation members tithe part of their money to the church giving it wealth, reach and influence. At the heart of it all are religious power couple Brian and Bobbie — Sydney’s most powerful religious couple.
56. John Coates — Australian Olympic Committee President
In the Machiavellian competition of Olympic politics, John Coates could win a gold medal for endurance.
For 29 years, the Sydney lawyer has been president of the Australian Olympic Committee, the body that chooses who represents Australia at the Games. But his real clout is in the international arena.
A member of the International Olympic Committee since 2001, he was elected to the executive board in 2009 then served as vice-president between 2013-17, where he mixes with former athletes, government and business leaders and even members of Royal Families.
When Coates was challenged in 2017 by Danni Roche for the AOC leadership, one of the key factors in his re-election was his unmatched influence in the inner circle of the IOC.
It was a bruising encounter that reinforced Coates’ tenacity.
He is rumoured to be retiring after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, for which he is chairman of the co-ordination commission but, if Queensland proceeds with a bid to host the 2032 Olympics, Coates is likely to play a crucial role.
55. Shemara Wikramanayake — Macquarie Bank CEO
Never heard of Shemara Wikramanayake? You will, after she just took over the only top five bank in the country to come through the royal commission with its reputation intact. She replaced high-profile Nicholas Moore in December as boss of Macquarie Bank after she successfully ran its asset management business, the Millionaire Factory’s biggest money-spinner with a whopping $549.5 billion in assets on the books.
For more than three decades and based in nine cities, Wikramanayake has achieved stunning success for the investment bank. After being handed the poisoned chalice of asset management during the global financial crisis she turned it into rivers of gold, doing monster deals that in one case injected $125 billion worth of assets into the banks coffers at a time when much of the market was dumping and running.
The 56-year-old self-described maths geek pocketed $18.8 million last financial year for her brilliance, miles ahead of any under-siege big four bank boss, who have all had their bonuses slashed as the stink of the royal commission took hold. Wikramanayake didn’t give evidence at the royal commission but her predecessor Moore did, coming up roses and showing how the bank immediately acted when regulators flagged problems — the opposite to the other banks which employed endless tactics of obfuscation to escape being pinged for ripping off their customers.
Wikramanayake also has one of Sydney’s best connected and most powerful chairmen in her corner at Macquarie, Peter Warne.
54. Judith Neilson — Billionaire philanthropist and White Rabbit Gallery Founder
Judith Neilson is one of an extremely rare species: a Sydney-based philanthropic billionaire.
Although not a household name, the Zimbabwe-born 72-year-old has contributed enormously to the cultural life of the city, and is a generous benefactor to many charities.
She’s the founder and director of the White Rabbit Gallery at Chippendale, a free art gallery showing one of the world’s biggest collections of contemporary Chinese art post-2000.
Neilson was married to funds manager Kerr Neilson and made her debut on Australia’s rich list when the couple divorced in 2015. Neilson then set about amassing a property empire, specialising in converting old factories and warehouses in Sydney and is now estimated to be worth $1.7 billion.
In late November last year she announced she would fund a $100m institute for journalism based in Sydney.
Neilson’s charitable work was recognised in 2016 when she was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia. She also gave a $10 million endowment to create the Judith Neilson Chair in Architecture at the University of NSW which will research the design of affordable housing for people displaced by natural disasters, wars and economic and environmental factors.
“I feel very strongly about contributing to a greater culture of philanthropy in Australia,” she says. “There’s a big element of luck in being wealthy — I believe people have a responsibility to give back.”
53. David Wenham — Actor
He’s played evil criminals, mythical heroes, loveable bogans, French drag queens and enigmatic heart-throbs — David Wenham is nothing if not versatile.
An actor, writer producer and director, Wenham sprang into the national consciousness playing Diver Dan in Sea Change. He went on to conquer Hollywood featuring in some of the biggest movie franchises in history: Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean.
But Wenham remains a Sydney boy at heart. He has lived in Kings Cross for 25 years and draws inspiration from the “incredible community”. He’s a long-time ambassador for the Wayside Chapel and can be found regularly catching up with locals at his favourite coffee shop and sushi bar. A two-minute walk to the supermarket can often take him three quarters of an hour as people want to chat.
52. Liane Moriarty — Author
With a personal net worth of more than $8 million, author Liane Moriarty is the darling of Hollywood thanks to Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Laura Dern starring in Big Little Lies.
The smash HBO hit was based on one of eight adult books written by Moriarty, who has also published three children’s books including The Petrifying Problem with Princess Petronella.
Big Little Lies made her the first Australian author to have a novel debut at number one on the New York Times bestseller list. The Husband’s Secret has been translated into 35 languages and CBS Films has acquired the film rights.
Kidman’s Blossom Films picked up the rights to the latest book before it was even released.
“It is a very odd feeling,” the Sydney-based mother of two told 60 Minutes.
“I don’t actually know what it is and I don’t want to think about it too much because … I might lose the magic.”
Nicole Kidman’s Blossom Films picked up the rights to Moriarty’s most recent book — Nine Perfect Strangers — before it was even released in September.
51. David Gonski — Businessman
He is a deal maker at heart, but David Gonski’s real strength is his network.
He opens doors and makes things happen and he’s sought by both sides of politics to set the agenda on issues of national importance, like his deep dive analysis on excellence in education that made his name synonymous with the issue.
Gonski was great mates and a trusted adviser to Kerry Packer. Frank Lowy, also a friend, set up Westfield Capital Corporation on Gonski’s advice. He is also close to Rupert Murdoch and Kerry Stokes.
Gonski is intricately involved in the arts and philanthropy, and has a gallery named in his honour at the Art Gallery of NSW, where he has long served as president of the uber powerful board of trustees, alongside Gretel Packer, Ashley Dawson-Damer and John Borghetti. He has chaired the Australia Council for the Arts, and Film Australia, and NIDA.
He is chairman of ANZ, a director at Sydney Airport, chancellor of the University of NSW and a patron of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation. The list of companies whose boards he’s served on is astounding and at one point numbered 40, among them giants Coca-Cola Amatil, Scentre Group, Fairfax and Consolidated Press.
50. Andrew Constance — NSW Minister for Transport and Infrastructure
When Gladys Berejiklian needs an attack dog it is Andrew Constance the premier lets off the leash.
As Minister for Transport and Infrastructure he is the defender-in-chief of the government’s legacy in correcting decades of chronic under-investment in roads, rail, hospitals and schools.
He has control over a huge slice of the state’s purse strings, commanding an eye-watering $80 billion spending spree in all corners of the state.
Along with economic management, infrastructure planning and delivery is the battleground on which the coalition desperately wants to fight the next election and Constance seems to relish the head-kicker’s role.
He has the confidence of his colleagues, a public profile and a history with the parliament that allows him to dredge up ghosts from his opponents’ past.
The member for Bega has been in parliament since 2003 — at 29 he was then the state’s youngest MP — and his ministerial portfolio gives him a daily platform to crow about the government’s wins and attempt to tear down Labor.
Despite severe headaches with the light rail construction in Sydney and an arduous pay dispute with train drivers, Constance is recognised as one of the government’s key weapons.
Some believe he could be the next leader of the Liberal Party. But he also has Treasurer Dominic Perrottet — economic defender-in-chief — to contend with. Much could hang on how each of these soldiers performs during the campaign.
49. Mike Baird — NAB chief customer officer
Mike Baird has a knack of being in the right place at the right time. When a bottle of Grange finished Barry O’Farrell’s career as premier, Baird stepped up.
Now he’s in line to run NAB after Kenneth Hayne made a spectacle of his outgoing boss Andrew Thorburn, for all the wrong reasons, in the Banking Royal Commission final report.
But it’s more than timing — it’s charm, intelligence and skill that make Baird such a formidable force. He shot the lights out in the popularity stakes as premier, until his misstep on banning greyhounds and, as boss of NAB’s retail bank, he is constantly wheeled out to calm angry customers and rebuild the bank’s tattered reputation. Who better to sell the “we’ve changed” story to MPs and the public than a man with a rolled-gold political contact book and a Midas touch with the public.
He began his career in banking before following his dad Bruce, who also served as deputy premier, into politics. Way back when he also toyed with becoming a priest and maintains a strong faith — it was at St Matthews church in Manly that Baird the banker met Thorburn 17 years ago.
48. Ellyse Perry — Star Cricket and Soccer player
She is the top-ranked female cricket all-rounder in the world and her on-field achievements have made Ellyse Perry a household name.
An athlete who has excelled since her teens and represented Australia in two sports (she has 16 caps for the Australian women’s football team, the Matildas), it’s no wonder sponsors clamber to associate with her.
Perry has endorsements with Adidas, Fox Sports, CommBank, Hisense and Mizone and she lends her profile and pulling power to charities such as the McGrath Foundation, Sporting Chance and the Learning for a Better World Trust.
Her precocious talent, drive and personality have made her into one of Australian sport’s most revered role models.
She won the inaugural ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year in 2017 and has twice taken home Women’s International Cricketer of the Year.
Add numerous player of the match and series awards for her country and it all comes together to create one very marketable athlete.
With all the talk these days of an athlete needing to own their ‘brand’ there’s no greater example of how it should look than Ellyse Perry.
47. Russell Crowe — Actor and South Sydney Rabbitohs chairman
Russell Crowe has admitted he’s tried to enlist Hollywood colleagues into rugby league fandom by showing match replays of his beloved South Sydney Rabbitohs on set.
It’s that kind of passion — along with a long-time A-lister’s profile and economic clout — that has made the Oscar winner one of the most influential figures in the sport.
In 2006, he bought a stake in the team he has followed since childhood and has been active ever since.
He lured young Englishman Sam Burgess to the club, who has gone on to be widely recognised as one of the best forwards to have played game and is now one its biggest stars.
He was also instrumental in securing the signature of prize recruit Greg Inglis — considered one of the game’s greats — to the Rabbitohs from under the noses of NRL powerhouse the Brisbane Broncos in 2011.
Both players were crucial to ending the club’s trophy drought, which finally ended after 43 years in 2014, to Crowe’s delight.
46. Harry Triguboff — Billionaire and Meriton Managing Director
It is not too big a call to say Harry Triguboff has changed the face of Sydney.
The Meriton founder championed higher density living starting in the 1960s, challenging Australia’s traditional quarter-acre block thinking. Today, Meriton apartment blocks are a routine feature of suburban Australia and “High Rise” Harry is regularly listed as among the country’s richest men.
The scale is staggering. Meriton is credited with building more than 75,000 apartments across the east coast — and about one in 10 flats in Sydney.
It’s an empire built from humble beginnings. Triguboff was born in 1933 in China to Russian Jewish parents who fled Lenin’s socialist revolution before arriving in Australia in 1948.
Triguboff studied textile engineering and worked in Israel and South Africa before returning to Australia and driving a taxi among other things, before establishing Meriton at age 30 in 1963.
The company boomed along with Australia’s population and economic growth. Today the business has diversified into rental apartments and hotel suites, and Triguboff’s estimated worth is around $13 billion. He is still running the business at 85 and has been vocal in public debates about housing and development issues.
45. Gus Gould — Penrith Panthers General Manager and Nine commentator
Very few figures in Australia’s sporting landscape have as much reach and clout as Phil “Gus” Gould.
A former player, coach, administrator and now commentator, Gould’s name is synonymous with rugby league and he remains one of the most respected people in the sport.
He also has unprecedented access to the eyes and ears of millions of Australians on a weekly basis in his role as a lead commentator for Nine’s free-to-air broadcasts during the NRL season.
Gould, who is NSW’s most successful Origin coach, currently calls the shots as general manager of NRL powerhouse the Penrith Panthers.
He has navigated the club through off-field scandals and controversial player and coaching deals as he continues to try and deliver that elusive NRL title.
Gould is never afraid to speak his mind and is often critical of the sport and its top administrators. Despite this, the linchpin’s influence stretches all the way to the hallways of rugby league headquarters.
44. Ann Sherry — Carnival Australian Chairman and Director of NAB, UNICEF Australia, Sydney Airport and Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
Ann Sherry has made a lifetime of advocating for change — in business and in relentlessly championing opportunities for girls and women.
For the Carnival Australia chair, there is no magic around the notion of influence: it is the point at which commercial interests merge with community needs.
“That’s where you get the real and most lasting work done. I’ve learned over the years that the sweet spot for change comes from identifying and matching commercial interests with a need in the community,” Sherry says.
She is widely credited with introducing paid maternity leave at Westpac in 1995, paving the way for such leave in corporate Australia.
“It is a great example of using your influence in ways that can start small but ultimately have an amazing and long-lasting ripple effect.
“Paid maternity leave began with wanting to create a better workplace and retaining the many skilled women we had in the bank but, at the same time, recognising there was a real desire amongst men and women for more flexible and family friendly workplaces.”
She does not just talk the talk, she walks the walk through her role as Chairman of UNICEF Australia and non-executive director positions with NAB, Sydney Airport, Palladium Group, Rugby Australia, Cape York Partnerships, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Infrastructure Victoria and Philanthropy Australia.
“Those of us in senior positions in business have lots of opportunities to create change — and I don’t think we do it nearly enough — but you have to be vigilant,” she says.
“You also have to be patient because I always tell the people I work with that timing is everything. If it doesn’t work now, it’s not to say the context hasn’t changed in two years or even 10 years.”
43. Olivia Wirth and Paul Howes — Qantas Loyalty CEO & KPMG National Leader of Customer, Brand and Marketing
High-flyers Paul Howes and Olivia Wirth became one of Sydney’s best-known power couples when their relationship married trade union might with big business and high society.
When they revealed their relationship in 2012, he was the media-savvy national secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union and she was the public face of Qantas as the airline’s chief spokeswoman. Their marriage at Deux Belettes, a spectacular French-style chateau in the Byron hinterland, attracted A-list guests including Qantas chief Alan Joyce, former prime minister Julia Gillard, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten, celebrity chef Neil Perry and actor Les Hill.
Once touted as a future Labor leader, Howes had been a union official from the age of 17 while Wirth held senior roles with the Tourism and Transport Forum and the Australian Tourist Commission.
The couple, known as “Paulivia”, have since spread their power base with Wirth becoming CEO of Qantas’s highly lucrative loyalty business and Howes, 37, moving to accounting mega-firm KPMG in 2014, where he is national boss of their customer, brand and marketing advisory practice.
Add to that their involvement on the boards of UNICEF (Wirth) and beyondblue (Howes) and their influence has spread through all levels of Sydney’s elite. In 2017, they sold their Randwick home for a reported $5.4 million to move to Bronte.
42. Paul Whittaker — Sky News CEO
When Paul Whittaker calls, the prime minister answers. Well, most of the time — he is the PM after all.
And, if the lefties are to be believed, Whittaker’s 24-hour news channel Sky News Australia is the reason Scott Morrison now sits behind Malcolm Turnbull’s desk, so powerful is his clutch of persuasive opinion show hosts Paul Murray, Andrew Bolt, Alan Jones and Peta Credlin.
Sky News reaches more than one million viewers on Foxtel every week and has a large and growing free-to-air audience on Win, broadcast in 30 regional markets.
Sky News is regularly the number one channel on Foxtel and number one across Foxtel in key evening timeslots. It is never off in the ministerial offices of parliaments across the nation, especially Canberra’s.
Nicknamed Boris for his likeness to Boris Becker and love of tennis, Whittaker bagged three prestigious Walkley awards as a journalist. He was appointed boss of Sky News in October and he is a former editor of The Daily Telegraph and editor-in-chief of The Australian, where he commissioned the most successful podcast in history, The Teacher’s Pet.
41. Chris Hemsworth — Actor and Influencer
From the first day he set foot on Home And Away back in 2004 Chris Hemsworth was destined for big things. Australia took notice and a year later he took home the Logie for Most Popular New Talent.
His chiselled blonde looks and warm personality helped make Hemsworth the perfect leading man — and soon this Aussie hunk was bound for Hollywood.
He now commands A-list attention and a paycheck to match but, despite this, chooses to live in Sydney’s northernmost “suburb” of Byron Bay.
Hemsworth was Hollywood’s top grossing male actor in 2018, according to Forbes, with a net worth of $90 million thanks to his role as Thor in the Marvel franchise.
His on-screen exploits have so far grossed more than $2.5 billion and include Avengers: Infinity War, 12 Strong and the recent gratuitously ab-filled Bad Times at the El Royale.
But, while Hemsworth is globally powerful, he retains a strong local connection. He is building a “Westfield-sized” mansion on the Byron Bay beachfront and lives a seemingly blissful life with his beautiful actor wife Elsa Pataky and their three sun-kissed blonde kids. They are often seen hosting their equally famous Hollywood friends such as Matt Damon and his family.
Aside from acting, he is busy working with the Australian Childhood Foundation and he launched his online fitness platform Centr this month.
That’s on top of his endorsement deals with TAG Heuer, Tourism Australia, BOSS, Swisse Wellness, Foxtel and American Express.
► THURSDAY: Sydney’s Power 100 — 40 to 21
► FRIDAY: Sydney’s Power 100 — 20 to 1
— Additional reporting: Matthew Benns, Janet Fife-Yeomans, Rose Brennan, Jonathon Moran, Anna Caldwell, Fatima Kdouh, Edward Boyd, Sheradyn Holderhead, Danielle Le Messurier, Jonathan Chancellor, Mark Morri, Julian Linden, Fiona Wingett, Lydia Pedrana and Paul Crawley.
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