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The Australian Financial Review Magazine
Power

AFR Magazine's annual Power Issue: The definitive analysis of Australia's most powerful people.

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The Chanticleer podcast features James Thomson and Anthony Macdonald.

Negative gearing explodes | Coles’ and Woolies’ dodgy discounts | The corporate Power list

This week on the Chanticleer podcast, James and Anthony look at how the supermarket giants were accused of dodgy discounting, ask who will win the brawl over negative gearing, and examine the corporate Power list.

Cartoonist David Rowe talks shop with Treasurer Jim Chalmers in Canberra.

How we got Australia’s most powerful to step into David Rowe’s world

We thought our Power listers might be reluctant to participate. Turns out, they loved it – more or less.

  • Matthew Drummond
Australia’s most powerful people in 2024.

Australia’s 10 most powerful people in 2024

There are three new faces on the Power list – plus some big swings in the ranking.

  • Tom McIlroy
Inflation has also made the chief inflation fighter the second most powerful person in the country, with Reserve Bank governor Michele Bullock installed at number two on the Power list.

Inflation makes or breaks this year’s Power list

The power rankings reveal the splintering of traditional political power in a two-party system that is emerging alongside the economic strains.

  • The AFR View

The forces that shaped 2024’s list of Australia’s most powerful people

Someone wasn’t happy to be on this year’s Power list. But even Power listers have no say in the process.

  • Phillip Coorey
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September

The 10 most covertly powerful people in Australia in 2024

Those who wield the most clout behind the scenes in the nation’s business and politics.

  • Tom McIlroy
From left: Danielle Wood, Peter Varghese, Frank Lowy, Linda Jakobson, John Daley.

Australia’s ‘brain boxes’ are a growing source of covert power

These research and advocacy institutes are on the rise. But to get the funding, they need to be seen.

  • Emma Connors

Australia’s five most powerful people in education in 2024

As we hurtle to the end of the year, there are a lot of balls still up in the air for the sector. The question is, how many have landed?

  • Julie Hare
Mark Delaney, Debby Blakey, Matt Comyn.

Power list reveals diminished influence of Australia’s corporate sector

This year’s list reflects the fading voice of CEOs and the growing size, scale and power of the superannuation sector.

  • James Thomson
Mark Delaney.

Australia’s 10 most powerful business leaders in 2024

The strongest voices for corporate Australia in a year when cost-of-living pressures have ripped through the most vulnerable parts of the economy.

  • James Thomson
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The most powerful people in law are (from left) Stephen Gageler, Mark Dreyfus, Gina Cass-Gottlieb,  Andrew Bell, Michael Lee.

Australia’s top five powerbrokers in the law for 2024

It was a momentous year for the High Court, the competition regulator and outspoken judges. Here are the people setting the agenda in legal circles.

  • Michael Pelly

The five most powerful Australian tech leaders in 2024

The biggest deal of the year, the end of an era at Atlassian and the rising influence of super funds helped to shape the list of technology’s most powerful in 2024.

  • Updated
  • Paul Smith
Vincent Namatjira, Jessica Fox, Ariarne Titmus, Michael Lee.

The 10 most culturally powerful people in Australia in 2024

What does it mean to be Australian right now? These 10 people made the biggest mark on our national culture this year.

  • Michael Bailey

Australia’s most powerful people in property for 2024

Interest rates and construction costs are wreaking havoc and creating new winners and losers. Perhaps the biggest power shift is the fading influence of the CFMEU.

  • Nick Lenaghan
Journalist Antoinette Lattouf and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra pianist Jayson Gillham.

The Gaza conflict ripped through the arts and ripped it apart

The conflict in Gaza hangs heavily over theatres and galleries, as animosities lead to a wave of resignations, donor withdrawals and boycotts.

  • Matthew Drummond

Australia’s most powerful deal makers in 2024

If investors step up and hit the bid on those valuations, the market will see real momentum. If not, it will be the same painful conversation about dry powder next year.

  • Sarah Thompson, Kanika Sood and Emma Rapaport

The most powerful people in the consulting sector in 2024

As the fallout from the PwC scandal still looms large, smaller operations are moving in on the big four’s turf.

  • Edmund Tadros
Some in Canberra worry about the potential for civil commotion should the result be contested.

Trying to make sense of the US election? Spare a thought for our diplomats

Australian policymakers have an apprehensive wait to see whether they will be dealing with a Trump or Harris administration.

  • James Curran

September 2023

Australia’s 10 most powerful people in 2023

Government, the ultimate power in this country, is being shaped by very different political forces than those brought to bear at the 2022 election.

  • Updated
  • Tom McIlroy

The Shovel’s satirical take on the PwC affair

Has outsourcing public service matters fallen out of favour and should the federal government pivot for a quick win?

  • James Schloeffel
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Australia’s most powerful people in education in 2023

There are significant changes ahead for the way children are taught in schools and the cross-section of students at universities.

  • Julie Hare

We asked ChatGPT to write for the Power issue. How did it go?

Each year, experts decide who holds the reins in Australia. The high-stakes ritual unfolds in a secretive meeting that feels part think tank, part reality show.

  • ChatGPT
An AI-generated image of Margot Robbie at the prime minister’s desk that used a real photo of Scott Morrison as a reference.

What we learnt when making AI images for the 2023 Power issue

Our team taught artificial intelligence to make portraits, like this one of Margot Robbie. The results show how it’s learning about 21st-century culture.

  • Updated
  • Matthew Drummond

The power pivot: Albanese in front, teals are gone

With unions on the march, the Greens on the up and support for the Voice trending down, the federal government has hit rocky terrain.

  • Phillip Coorey

The challenges chipping away at the PM’s power

If the Voice goes down on October 14, Anthony Albanese will have to turn his full attention to grappling with the inflation and cost of living issues.

  • The AFR View