Rich List: Billionaires multiply as profits surge, wages stall

Extract from ABC News

By business reporter Michael Janda

Posted yesterday at 4:43pm

Photo: Anthony Pratt, Visy Industries executive chairman, is Australia's richest man with $12.9 billion. (AAP: David Moir)

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Australia has 16 extra billionaires this year, taking the total to a record 76, with carboard and recycling magnate Anthony Pratt again topping the list of the nation's wealthiest.

The nation's richest 200 people, as calculated by the Financial Review, held a record $283 billion in wealth, up 21 per cent on last year.
It took a personal fortune of $387 million to make the list this year, up significantly from $341 million last year.
But the average wealth of Australia's 200 richest people was $1.41 billion.
Apartment developer Harry Triguboff ($12.8 billion) and Gina Rinehart ($12.7 billion) were just behind Mr Pratt, with Hong Kong-based property magnate Hui Wing Mau ($9.1 billion) and Westfield shopping centre billionaire Frank Lowy ($8.4 billion) rounding out the top five richest Australians.
The chief economist at left-leaning think tank The Australia Institute, Richard Denniss, said it is no surprise that the number and wealth of billionaires has surged.
"It's a good time to be a billionaire in Australia," he said.

"On the back of strong profit growth and frozen real wages, the share of GDP going to wages is at historically low levels, while profit share is at historically high rates."

"It is little wonder that inequality is on the rise and the biggest winner from all of this are billionaires, whose numbers are rapidly growing."

Infographic: Company profits are at their highest point since 2011 but wages have stagnated. (The Conversation (ABS business indicator and wage price index))

The top six richest Australians had a combined personal fortune of $64 billion in 2018, roughly equivalent to The Australia Institute's 2017 estimate of the combined $65.4 billion wealth held by the 1.8 million households in the bottom 20 per cent.
Three of Australia's richest people were neither born in the country nor spend most of their time living here: Hong Kong-based property tycoon Hui Wing Mau, who owns several large Australian agricultural interests; South African-born, Swiss-based mining executive Ivan Glasenberg; and Indian-born, Dehli-based auto parts manufacturer Vivek Sehgal.

Property developers dominate rich list

The top five industries in which the nation's wealthiest 200 primarily made their fortunes are property (51), retail (22), investment (20), resources (18) and financial services (16).
With property the main source of wealth creation for more than a quarter of the richest 200, Dr Denniss said the wealthy should be concerned about the growing number of Australians feeling left behind by the economic system.
"Whether it is precarious work, sluggish wages growth or rapidly rising house prices, there are a growing number of Australians who are becoming increasingly angry at the fact that they're missing out," he told the ABC.

"It is a brave politician who ignores the public's growing concern."

Embed: Wage Price Index

The nation's richest are evenly split between Sydney and Melbourne (with 57 residing in each of those cities), with Perth (20), Brisbane (15) and the Gold Coast (5) housing many of the rest.
Men continue to dominate the nation's wealth, with only 19 women in the top 200 and just 8 female billionaires out of 76.