Australia's Billionaire Wealth Surges $25.67bn Amidst Widespread Poverty

The wealth of Australia’s billionaires increased by $25.67bn in the past year, equivalent to almost $50,000 a minute, according to new Oxfam Australia analysis of the 2026 Australian Financial Review Rich List.

The anti-poverty organisation said the total wealth of Australian billionaires in 2026 has reached more than $686bn, while Acoss figures show 3,706,000 people live in poverty, including 757,000 children under 15 years.

One in three households experienced food insecurity last year, meaning they stressed about or struggled to put food on the table.

Australia now has its highest number of billionaires on record, at 178, up 17 from last year.

A large amount of this new wealth has come from artificial intelligence and datacentres. In addition to regular rich listers such as Gina Rinehart, the new billionaires include property developers Anthony El-Hazouri and Charbel Hazzour, AI-driven jobs platform founder Katrina Leslie, mining boss Chris Ellison, fashion label White Fox founders Daniel and Georgia Contos, and luxury property developers Adrian and Peter Puljich.

Oxfam said the figures highlighted the widening gap between Australia’s wealthiest people and ordinary households, with the 20 richest Australians now holding more wealth than the bottom 3 million households.

Oxfam Australia’s chief executive, Jennifer Tierney, said while many Australians continue to feel the brunt of high living costs, billionaire wealth was continuing to surge.

“There is something fundamentally wrong with a system where extreme wealth keeps skyrocketing while so many people are struggling to afford the basics, and governments claim there is not enough money for housing, healthcare, climate action and essential services,” she said.

The increase in billionaire wealth in the past year alone could have lifted nearly a million Australians out of poverty or covered household electricity bills for every single Australian household for well over one year, she said.

While AI and datacentres brought new names on to the billionaires list, most have made their money through property development, mining and other technology, she said.

Tierney said the budget included some welcome measures to ease pressure on households and begin reforming unfair tax settings, but it did not go far enough to address the scale of wealth inequality growing in Australia.

“While modest, reforms to capital gains tax and negative gearing are important steps towards a fairer tax system. Australia should not continue rewarding wealth accumulation more generously than work, particularly at a time when so many households are under pressure.

“While misinformation and misplaced fears about small business and aspiration continue to dominate debate around these reforms, the reality is that the wealth of the super-rich continues to grow while poverty persists. Without structural reform to the tax system, that divide will only deepen.

“A fairer approach to taxing extreme wealth would help ensure governments can properly invest in affordable housing, healthcare, climate action and support for communities doing it tough here and abroad.”