The richest person in Australia this year, according to the 2011 BRW Rich List, is mining magnate Gina Rhinehart.
Her wealth, estimated at $10.3 billion, is more than twice the amount put shopping centre tycoon Frank Lowy in the top spot in last year’s BRW Rich List.
Rhinehart’s wealth rose $5.55 billion from 2010.
Adele Ferguson said in the May 26 Sydney Morning Herald: “The rich list shows Australia now has 35 billionaires, five more than last year.
“The cutoff point for the list is now $215 million, which is $30 million higher than last year … four of the country’s top-five richest people — Rinehart, Ivan Glasenberg, Andrew Forrest and Clive Palmer — have all made their money from the mining boom.
“Together they are worth more than $30 billion.”
Yet right now, big business representatives are urging Fair Work Australia to reject the Australian Council of Trade Unions’ (ACTU) modest call for a $28-a-week rise in the federal minimum wage.
The bosses are crying poor. The Australian Chamber of Commerce wants no more than a $9.50 rise in the minimum wage.
The ACTU submission shows that the 1.3 million workers who rely on the minimum wage are struggling with huge increases in the cost of living.
Over the past year, home rents have risen by an average 2.9% in capital cities, fuel 7.1%, food 8-13%, electricity 12.5% and water and sewerage bills 12.8%.
Indeed, the submission shows that $28 won’t even cover the median weekly rent increase on a small unit in Campbelltown in Sydney’s outer south-west.
This gross injustice is a chronic feature of our deeply class-divided society where the fruit of the labour of most people is systematically taken by a few.
The wealthiest 20% of Australians own 61% of the country’s wealth, while the poorest 20% own 1%. Few Australians are aware of this inequality according to a new study by Dr David Neale, Dr Mike Norton and Dr Dan Ariely, commissioned by the ACTU.
The report says most people estimate the wealth share of the richest 20% to be about only 40%, and they would like it to be less than 25%. Most people also think the poorest 20% have about 9.5% of Australia’s wealth, when in fact they share just 1%.
The poorest 10% have net negative wealth (that is, they have more debts than assets).
A society built on such deep inequalities is not only unjust but also unsustainable. The incredible amount of wealth concentrated in the hands of a handful of billionaires has meant that urgently needed investment in a transition to renewable energy and in social infrastructure such as public housing and public transport is not being made.
The facts show that Australia’s 35 billionaires are directing investment to maximise their profits and make themselves even richer, instead of investment for the common good.
And worse, these distorted priorities is also determining the savings of working people in superannuation funds (worth $1.28 trillion) and the investments of governments at all levels and other public institutions.
A recent example of this distortion was the revelation that the federal government’s $74 billion Future Fund had invested $135.4 million in nuclear weapons manufacturers.
The Future Fund has also been criticised for investing in cluster bomb manufacture and the tobacco industry.
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