By Padraig Collins For Daily Mail Australia
04:30 30 May 2024, updated 04:35 30 May 2024
Australia’s 10 wealthiest people are worth a combined $222.6billion – a rise of almost $7billion from last year, the Australian Financial Review’s Rich List has revealed.
Mining magnate Gina Rinehart, whose fortune is $40.6billion – up $3billion from last year – topped the list for the fifth year running.
The huge increase in just one year has made Ms Rinehart the first Australian to ever be worth more than $40billion.
Meriton property mogul Harry Triguboff came second, with a fortune worth $26.49billion, which is a mere $14.11billion behind Ms Rinehart.
Technology billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, alongside his former wife Annie Cannon-Brookes, came joint third with a combined worth of $24.38billion.
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Though Australia in general has been going through a long lasting cost of living crisis, the wealth of richest 200 people in the country grew by 11 per cent in the past 12 months.
Added together, those 200 people are now worth $625billion, according to the 2024 Financial Review Rich List, with the poorest of them still worth an astonishing $718million.
While five of the top 10 wealthiest people made their money in mining, those in the tech sector are accumulating riches at an unprecedented pace.
The 28 people on the list who made their billions and hundreds of millions through tech include fintech (financial technology) entrepreneurs and crypto gambling pioneers.
New South Wales is still the No.1 state for the very rich, with 80 of the 200 living there.
The number of women on the list grew strongly from 2023 to 2024, increasing from 36 to 41.
The top 10 wealthiest people in Australia
1 Gina Rinehart – $40.6billion – mining
2 Harry Triguboff – $26.5billion – property
3 Mike & Annie Cannon-Brookes – $24.4billion – technology
4 Anthony Pratt & family – $23.3billion – manufacturing
5 Scott Farquhar – $22.9billion – technology
6 Clive Palmer – $22.8billion – mining
7 Nicola Forrest – $16.9billion – mining
8 Andrew Forrest – $16.8billion – mining
9 Ivan Glasenberg – $14.9billion – mining
10 Melanie Perkins & Cliff Obrecht – $13.6billion – technology
The full AFR Rich List will be released on Friday.