Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been named as Australia’s most powerful person but Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is close behind according to The Australian Financial Review Magazine’s Power List revealed today.
Trade Minister Don Farrell remains at the top of the list of covert power players, while Indigenous artist Vincent Namatjira – who raised the ire of mining magnate Gina Rinehart with his portrait of her at the National Portrait Gallery – is No.1 on the cultural power list.
This year’s Power List issue of AFR Magazine contains photographic portraits featuring topical backdrops illustrated by the Financial Review’s cartoonist, David Rowe. Rowe drew the illustrations, which were then printed onto fabric and used as giant backdrops.
The portrait photos include Treasurer Jim Chalmers taming an inflation dragon, Olympic swimmer Ariarne Titmus relaxing on the beach and Albanese with a DJ’s turntable.
AFR Power List Cover
Said Rowe of his creative process: “I usually start with the character, so it took me a while to warm up given I had to leave them out of the cartoon. You have to lose the worry about what people will think.”
Other subjects photographed against a cartoon backdrop include the founders of the Betoota Advocate; the RBA governor Michele Bullock; ACTU national secretary Sally McManus and teals backer Simon Holmes à Court.
“There are quite a few debutants on this year’s list, which was also marked by big swings in the rankings given next year’s federal election,” said AFR Magazine editor Matthew Drummond.
The Power List consists of three main categories – Overt, Covert and Cultural – which are debated at length by two separate panels of insiders drawn from Australia’s political, business and cultural spheres.
Panellists who decided the Overt and Covert Lists were Joel Fitzgibbon and Christopher Pyne – both former ministers – Scott Morrison’s former private secretary, Yaron Finkelstein, director of AGL Kerry Schott, chancellor of Western Sydney University Jennifer Westacott; pollster Kos Samaras, data strategist Annie O’Rourke, Labor insider Lidija Ivanovski and the Financial Review’s Phillip Coorey and editor-at-large Michael Stutchbury.
The panel that decided the AFR Cultural Power list included Warner Music Australasia president Dan Rosen, Curio Pictures managing director Jo Porter, director of National Gallery of Victoria Tony Ellwood, acting commissioner Infrastructure Australia Gabrielle Trainor and the Financial Review’s Mark di Stefano and Matthew Drummond.
Overt List:
1) Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese
2) Reserve Bank Governor, Michele Bullock
3) Foreign Minister, Penny Wong
4) Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton
5) Federal Treasurer, Jim Chalmers
6) Defence Minister, Richard Marles
7) BHP Chief Executive, Mike Henry
8) ACTU Secretary, Sally McManus
9) Greens Housing Spokesman, Max Chandler-Mather
10) Coalition Indigenous Spokeswoman, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price
Covert List:
1) Trade and Tourism Minister, Don Farrell
2) Chair of Hancock Prospecting, Gina Rinehart
3) Prime Minister Chief of Staff, Tim Gartrell
4) Finance Minister, Katy Gallagher
5) ALP National Secretary, Paul Erickson
6) Chair of News Corp and Fox Corporation, Lachlan Murdoch
7) Businessman and Organiser, Simon Holmes à Court
8) Treasury Secretary, Steven Kennedy
9) ACCC Chair, Gina Cass-Gottlieb
10) Commonwealth Bank CEO, Matt Comyn
Cultural List:
1) Artist, Vincent Namatjira
2) Olympic Canoeist, Jessica Fox
3) Artist, Archie Moore
4) Musician, Troye Sivan
5) Federal Court Judge, Michael Lee
6) Betoota Advocate Founders, Clancy Overell and Errol Parker
7) Olympic Swimmer, Ariarne Titmus
8) CEO Racing NSW, Chairman of Australian Rugby League Commission, Peter V’landys
9) Actor, Sarah Snook
10) Singer, Kylie Minogue