Australia’s billionaires are booming. The rest of us are cutting back.
As Australians tighten their belts, skip meals, and worry about rent or mortgage repayments, a very different story is unfolding at the top of the economy.
New Oxfam analysis shows the average Australian billionaire increased their wealth by almost $600,000 a day over the past year. That’s more than the average Australian earns in nearly six years. Collectively, Australian billionaires added more than $10.5 billion to their fortunes in just 12 months.
Since 2020, eight new Australian billionaires have been minted, bringing the total to 48. Together, they now hold more wealth than the bottom 40 per cent of the population combined, almost 11 million people.
Globally, the picture is even more extreme. Billionaire wealth surged by over 16 per cent in 2025, reaching a record $27.7 trillion. This is the largest accumulation of wealth in human history. The total number of billionaires has topped 3,000 for the first time, while the world’s richest person, Elon Musk, briefly surpassed half a trillion dollars.
While millions of Australians struggle with essentials and watch global crises like Yemen, Sudan and Syria receive dwindling humanitarian support, Australia’s billionaires are accumulating extraordinary wealth at extraordinary speed.
This boom has coincided with deliberate political choices. Tax cuts skewed heavily towards the wealthiest and deregulation prioritising corporate profits helped turbocharge wealth accumulation at the top. The benefits did not trickle down. Instead, these policies helped normalise an economic model that rewards extreme wealth while leaving inequality to deepen globally.
The speed and scale of this wealth growth tells us something about the system we live in. An economy that delivers extraordinary gains to a tiny elite while millions struggle to afford basics is failing. It reflects a system where wealth and power are concentrated in too few hands, and the rules are designed to protect those at the top.
That concentration matters because extreme wealth does not remain purely economic. It increasingly translates into political power. Billionaires are 4,000 times more likely to hold political office than ordinary citizens, and they wield outsized influence through donations, lobbying and privileged access to decision-makers. When wealth buys influence, democracy starts to warp. Decisions are made in the interests of those with the most money, not the greatest need, and billionaires are increasingly controlling the information we see, essentially telling us what to think.
The consequences are visible everywhere. In Australia, more than 3.7 million people live in poverty, including more than 700,000 children. One in three households experienced food insecurity last year. People are skipping meals, delaying medical care, and cutting back on essentials in a country that prides itself on fairness and opportunity. Globally, billions face conflict, hunger and death from preventable diseases, not because the world lacks resources, but because those resources are increasingly hoarded at the top.
One year alone, the wealth increase of a single Australian billionaire matched the annual incomes of more than 2,000 Australians. Governments claim there is not enough money to fund essential services or respond to humanitarian crises. There is money. It’s just increasingly locked away.
That’s why Oxfam is calling on the Australian Government to tax the fortunes of the super-rich. Fairly taxing extreme wealth would increase government’s resources by billions, and generate vital revenue for healthcare, education, social services, housing and humanitarian assistance. Income could be generated through a modest wealth tax, ending the capital gains tax discount that overwhelmingly benefits the wealthy and is estimated to cost the federal government over $20 million this year, and phasing out negative gearing settings that push up housing prices while draining the public purse.
Extreme inequality is a policy choice. It can be undone, but only if governments are willing to challenge extreme wealth and rebalance an economy that has drifted far from fairness.
