Wealthiest people in Qld revealed for 2025 in Richest 250 list

Queensland has a new mega rich coal baron, and a mattress magnate from Brisbane also reaches the ranks of the country’s wealthiest elite this year. See how much they are worth.

Australia has a new Queensland coal baron, and a mattress magnate from Brisbane also reaches the ranks of the country’s wealthiest elite this year.

Matt Latimore, the founder and boss of M Resources, debuts on The List - Australia’s Richest 250 this year with an estimated fortune of $640m.

The List, published in The Australian today, also features the family behind the Sealy bedding empire.

Simon Dyer and his family run the Sealy Posturepedic bedding empire. Their wealth sits at $861m this year.

The family business traces its history back to 1923, when it started building mattresses and furniture in Brisbane.

By the 1960s it was manufacturing the Sealy brand under licence from its American parent. Dyer sits on the board of the New York Stock Exchange-listed Tempur Sealy International, and his family’s business owns half of Sealy joint ventures in Asia and the UK. The Dyer family’s business made a net profit of $42m from about $268m revenue last year and has $517m net assets on its balance sheet.

Latimore, meanwhile, combines a penchant for fast Ferraris with a deep interest in bird watching. He has also made a big success of marketing and trading metallurgical coal.

His M Resources has an empire spanning mines, logistics such as rail and port infrastructure, and other related assets he says are now turning over a combined $1bn in revenue annually.

Matt Latimore at his office in Brisbane. Picture: NewsWire/Tertius Pickard

M Resources has a mining services division and a mining rehabilitation and closure service, though coal trading is the heart of its business, with 60 staff in Brisbane and offices around the world.

He started the business in 2011 after working in Japan for Mitsui & Co, and then Wesfarmers.

Gina Rinehart tops The List with an estimated $46.34bn fortune, and is one of a record 170 billionaires (including joint entries).

Total wealth for the 250 names on The List this year reaches $689.52bn, and the average wealth is $2.76bn.

The youngest person on The List is Robbie Ferguson, 28, the co-founder of tech firm Immutable. The oldest is 101-year-old poker machine pioneer Len Ainsworth.

The cut-off to make The List sits at $635m, a mark reached by New York-based Rokt founder and chief executive, Bruce Buchanan.

Here are Queensland’s richest people this year

Clive Palmer, $22.32bn

Palmer’s wealth is derived from mining royalties that flow his way each year from the Sino Iron Ore project in Western Australia’s Pilbara.

That mine, operated by CITIC Pacific, is on land over which Palmer gained control in the 1980s.

He receives hundreds of millions of dollars annually and spends it on Queensland properties and cars, jets, boats, litigation and political campaigns.

Palmer has launched a new political party called Trumpet of Patriots.

Clive Palmer launching his new party in Canberra ahead of the 2025 election. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Sam Chong, $3.82n

Chong’s wealth increases after he agreed in November to pay resources giant Anglo American $1.6bn for a major stake in two Queensland coal mines.

Malaysian-born Chong, owns Jellinbah with subsidiaries of Japanese group Marubeni, and Anglo.

The new deal sees him scoop up Anglo’s 33.3 per cent stake in Jellinbah Group, which owns a 70 per cent interest in the Jellinbah East and Lake Vermont metallurgical coal mines in Queensland. Chong already owned 33.3 per cent of Jellinbah.

Chris Wallin, $3.53bn

Wallin’s QCoal is one of the biggest mining companies in Queensland, where he started the coal miner in 1989 after working as the chief coal geologist in the state Mining Department. The reclusive billionaire Wallin raked in $400m in dividends from the main QCoal entity in 2024, according to documents lodged with the corporate regulator.

Chris Wallin. Picture: Steve Pohlner

The $400m dividend payment follows a payout of $375m in 2022-23 for the Rich Lister.

QCoal also noted it had paid out more than $1bn in royalties, taxes and levies in the past two years, including $470.5m in 2023-24.
Recently, Wallin said he had shifted investment away from Queensland over the past two years because of the former Labor government’s “disdain for mining” and hopes the industry receives fairer treatment under newly elected premier David Crisafulli.

John van Lieshout, $2.91bn

Van Lieshout started the Super A-Mart furniture chain 50 years ago, selling the business to private equity in 2006 for more than $500m and then ploughing much of his fortune into property.

By then, Van Lieshout already owned much of the land that Super A-Mart outlets sat on, and he now has about $1.5bn worth of real estate assets in his JVL Investment Group.

John Van Lieshout, owner of Unison Projects and founder of Super A-Mart, which he sold in 2006

John Richards & family, $2.09bn

The JJ waste management empire, which started in Brisbane in 1932, is the largest privately owned waste management company in Australia. The family business, run by John Richards, had revenue of $1.33bn in 2024 and made a $160m net profit. It has almost $1.3bn net assets on its balance sheet, a fleet of more than 1800 vehicles, and 2200 employees across the country.

The 2025 edition of The List – Australia’s Richest 250 is published on Friday in The Australian and online at www.richest250.com.au