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Our nine richest: the gap between them and the rest

Australians are fed up with unfairness, new research shows.

A national poll of over 1000 people conducted by Oxfam has found that Australians are deeply concerned about inequality.

Screen Shot 2014-06-16 at 12.24.43 pmOf those surveyed, 76 per cent think the very wealthy don’t pay enough tax; 75 per cent want the Government to take action to close the wealth divide, and two-thirds think it is unfair that the richest one per cent of Australians own more than the poorest 60 per cent.

Yes, you read that right. The top one per cent of Australians are richer than more than half of our entire country.

Income equality has been slowly on the rise in Australia since the mid 1990s, according to the Oxfam survey.

“The world is becoming increasingly unequal and so is Australia,” says the report.

Globally, 66 billionaires are as rich as half of the rest of the world.

Arguably the most staggering statistic to come out of the Oxfam report is that a select group of Aussies – our richest nine tycoons – are wealthier than the poorest 20 per cent of Australia (4.54 million people).

According to the BRW Rich List published in March, these top nine wealthiest Australians had a combined net worth of $57.7 billion.

Gina Gina Rinehart: $17.7 billion
Anthony Pratt 
Anthony Pratt: $7 billion
James Packer James Packer: $6.6 billion
Ivan Glasenberg 
Ivan Glasenberg: $6.3 billion
Andrew Forrest 
Andrew Forrest: $5 billion
Frank Lowy 
Frank Lowy: $4.6 billion
Harry Triguboff 
Harry Triguboff: $4.3 billion
John Gandel 
John Gandel: $3.2 billion
Paul Ramsey 
Paul Ramsay (now deceased): $3 billion

In case you’re wondering, here’s what these fat cats could have bought with all that money.

Australia’s entire HECS-HELP debt x 2.19     ($26.3 billion in 2012-13)
Uni-of-Melb

Australia’s annual foreign aid budget x 11.5     ($5.042 billion in 2013-14)
Foreign aid (4) Getty

Sydney Opera House  x 65.5     ($880 million after inflation)
Sydney Opera House (2) AAP

Joint Strike Fighters x 270     (approx. $214 million per jet fighter)
Joint Strike Fighter (1) AAP

Lamborghini Veneno x 12,612     ($4.3 million each)
Lamborghini Veneno (3) Getty

Victor Island (off the coast of Mackay, QLD)  x 29,590     (Sale price: $1.95 million)
Victor Island

Puppies (which cost $25,000 over their lifetime!) x 2.3 million
Dog (4) Getty

Airbus A380 x 180     (approx. $319 million each)
Airbus A380 (3) Getty

M1A2 Abrams military tanks x 9,015     (approx. $6.4 million per tank)
M1A2 Abrams tank (2) Getty

Google shares: 15 per cent stake in the company     (approx. $587 per share)
Google (1) Getty Images

Sydney Olympics x 7     ($8.1 billion in today’s money)
Sydney Olympics (4) Getty

Eureka Tower, Melbourne  x 108     ($531 million after inflation)
Eureka

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