… a recent Oxfam report reveals that just like US billionaires, those in Australia are continuing to increase their wealth exponentially, and just like in the States, over 2026, the local 1 percent has revealed their far-right proclivities.
Oxfam reported in May 2026 that the collective wealth of Australian billionaires increased by more that $25 billion over the 12 months prior. This growth translates to a “staggering surge” of $50,000 every minute. This obscene wealth gain follows a three-year trend. And this extreme spike comes as the number of billionaires in this country has risen to the highest on record.
There are now 178 billionaires locally. Their numbers are rising alongside their wealth, under the global capitalist system that results in an ever-greater concentration of wealth in the hands of the 1 percent to the detriment of the bottom 50 percent. And the 20 richest locals in this country now hold more wealth than the bottom 3 million Australians.
Just like in the US, Australian billionaires now appear to be taking a more proactive role in federal politics… the world’s richest man Elon Musk was placed in charge of [US’] most important databases, while tech bro Peter Thiel bankrolled JD Vance into the US vice-presidency. And now we have mining magnate Gina Rinehart vying for a One Nation-led government over here.
But in a recent op-ed, Greens Senator David Shoebridge set out that he considers that rising feelings of hopelessness and despair are often by the design of the billionaire class, as it attempts to shield the fact that the people can unite and wrest back power.
What is the trade union party? Do you mean the Labor Party? If that is the case, considering how much they support and are supported by large local and overseas business corporations of different types they cannot be described as a trade union party.
If I understand what you are saying, if an independent in a rich, inner-city electorate is ‘woke’ (please explain what you mean by that) and they advocate for a tax on fossil fuel extraction and export they can’t be representative of the working class. Seems to me you are seeing independents in a very narrow way but I may have misunderstood what you are saying.
Labor is the trade union party. They were founded by trade unions, many of their members are trade unionists, and the trade unions overwhelmingly back them.
As for the teals being woke, we all know what that means. I wasn’t using it as a pejorative. The thing with wokeness is that it costs rich people nothing, hence why all the corporations participate in pride month. The teals being woke doesn’t magically make them representatives for the working class (the opposite really, the working class is more likely to be conservative).
The reason I bought up the electorates they represent is to make it obvious. The teals do not represent the working class, they represent the rich. Both officially and unofficially.
The teals are not proposing a tax on “fossil fuel extraction”. They’re proposing a “25% tax on gas exports”. If passed it would raise just 2% of the federal budget and leave not just all the millionaires who are not mining magnates untouched, but even most of the mining magnates. The one thing it would do is majorly mess up our economy (for various technical reasons I can’t be bothered debating yet again) which makes it the perfect wedge issue against Labor.
Ok, I’m going to generalise.
I sometimes wonder if any of our politicians represent the ‘working class’ or everyday Australians, except maybe Jacquie Lambie.
I’m all for trade unions and truly appreciate their role in standing up for waged people. But, not all trade unions are built the same, are they?
Most of our politicians have middle-class backgrounds and/or have uni degrees or professional qualifications (lawyers anyone?). Those that don’t, like Hanson, have people around them who are better educated, plus in PHON’s case have been compromised by ‘big money’. Representing working class interests can be a bit of a pantomime, even by a so-called conservative party like PHON, don’t you think? Or even Labor. Politics is mostly pantomime.
As for for the LNP, they’ve become almost irrelevant except to help keep up the appearance of an opposition to Labor. Both parties often work together to keep their two-Party party exclusive.
I asked you what you meant by ‘woke’, because I’ve heard different interpretations of the term and you didn’t give your interpretation. To me, being woke is to be awake to and informed about what’s going on behind the pantomime, to have a social conscience and live according to it as best one can. Perfection not required.
I’m not sure why you are singling out the teals. They are a small percentage of reps in parliament. If any major party represents the interests of everyday Australians, the closest would be the Greens reps, and they also want a 25% tax on gas exports. They are also mostly from privileged backgrounds and education.
You can be from a privileged background (I don’t mean the really filthy-rich class) and have a social conscience and work towards making society more equitable. You can be from a working-class background and betray that class because you want to have a privileged life too, capitalist-style.
If you look at Labor’s voting record they are very much pro-worker. I should’ve lead with that.
The Greens have voted similarly, but their willingness to sacrifice the broad left’s political chances for the sake of some BS like “integrity” demonstrates that they have little to no interest in actually furthering the interests of the working class. They are more interested in self-gratification than power. Max Chandler-Mathers was a prime example of this, if nothing else as the embodiment of virtue signalling.
The LNP is not the same as Labor … sort of. It’s important to make the distinction clear. Australia’s political system strongly discourages rocking the boat. Labor and the LNP when in government are bound by the status quo, but the direction of travel changes depending on who’s in government. If Labor wins the trend is far better (renewable rollout is accelerating, workers rights are improving, superannuation is protected, etc.).
Woke means progressive, basically, but the word “woke” is less about what you do and more about what you say.
I singled out the Teals because they are so widely treated as, in short, left-wing. But they are virulently opposed to trade unions and workers rights. When people see the issue of billionaire capture of politics they think the Teals are the solution, but they’re not, they’re part of the problem.
As for the gas tax, the key thing to remember is that it’s a very deliberately engineered distraction. One that sounds good on paper, but aside from the fact that it would raise little to no money, it would also cause so many negative side-effects that it would do ten times as much harm as good. “Tax Gas” is a populist slogan designed to funnel support away from Labor, it is not a serious policy proposition.
@Tenderizer
Labor have never been pro-worker. They’re the party that appeases the working class just enough so that their ruling class masters don’t have to worry about any actual change happening. Their eagerness to just continue giving our natural resources away to the billionaires and multi nationals being a perfect case in point. 17 billion dollars doesn’t sound like “little to no money” to me.
@arbilp3
17 billion dollars is little to no money in the context of the country. And it’s certainly nothing compared to the consequences of implementing such a tax at this stage.
Labor has historically repeatedly shown a willingness to butt heads with vested interests. The result, the last 3 prime ministers before Albanese were liberals. Labor isn’t all-powerful, they’re held back by democracy.
@Tenderizer
What, they’ll take the gas and mine it somewhere else?
The litany of Labor’s failure to take on vested interests is endless. Gambling advertising for a recent example. They have overwhelming support from the population to do something about it, but the money the gambling leeches give the ALP ensured that they didn’t. That’s not democracy holding them back, that’s the Labour party being owned by the rich.
It seems like the Greens are sledged if they choose integrity and sledged if they choose to be more pragmatic, like the recent Koala National Park-carbon credits situation.
As for Labor, though I agree with you that in general they are better for the country than the LNP they’ve been showing they are much the same in continuing to support (and be supported by) the fossil fuel industries and AI industry, for example, and throwing the natural environment and climate action ‘under the bus’.
The Greens, if they choose to be pragmatic, are sledged only by the far left. Those people don’t matter. Australia has compulsory ranked choice voting so the only people who matter are the median voter.
As for climate action and the environment, Labor has done a tonne for the environment if you know where to look. Problem is that certain newspapers make money by doommongering so you never hear about it. I could list them but I have work in the morning so I’ll just leave it at that.