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Morrison has been unseated by the premiers
The Prime Minister might run the nation and set policy, but it is the state premiers who wield the real power in the pandemic, managing every aspect of ordinary Australians’ lives.
- Updated
- Phillip Coorey
- Satire
- Power List
Eight of the PM’s most ‘powerful’ quotes
History is filled with examples of exceptional leaders. Only some were exceptional orators. Scott Morrison, without question, deserves to join their ranks.
- Updated
- James Schloeffel
The 10 most powerful people in Australia in 2021
This year, the combined might of four premiers has dislodged Scott Morrison from the top of the Power list.
- Tom McIlroy
Australia’s 10 most covertly powerful people in 2021
The pandemic and national intelligence have added new names to the list of those wielding the greatest influence behind the scenes.
- Tom McIlroy
The intriguing names left off the covert power list
A diverse and fascinating group of people wield power behind the scenes in the nation - these Australians didn’t make the list but still hold considerable influence.
- Matthew Drummond
September 2021
The 10 most culturally powerful people in Australia in 2021
Heading the list is Grace Tame, who has been through hell, rebuilt herself in its wake and is now calling those who enabled that hell to account.
- Brook Turner
Australia’s top five power brokers in law for 2021
This year, for the first time, women occupied the nation’s two most senior positions in the law.
- Michael Pelly
Australia’s 10 most powerful business leaders in 2021
From the start of the pandemic, the corporate sector had kept calm and carried on. But this year its patience ran out.
- James Thomson
Australia’s five most powerful education leaders in 2021
Although the impact of COVID-19 on the teaching sector has been profound, the movement to online learning might be its most enduring legacy.
- Julie Hare
The queen of fortress Queensland
Sunshine State Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has won more elections than any other female politician in Australia ... and her power is still on the rise.
- Mark Ludlow
Australia’s top five property players in 2021
Amid the chaos, remarkable things happened: a rent war in malls, an online shopping boom, a work-from-home revolution and the game changer known as HomeBuilder.
- Nick Lenaghan
Australia’s top five technology leaders in 2021
A number of big deals in the past 12 months reflect the success of a wave of companies in Australia’s maturing tech sector, as Aussie tech leaders become significant global players.
- Paul Smith
Australia’s most powerful consultants in 2021
The AFR Magazine’s hotly anticipated annual Power issue includes lists of the key players across six different industry sectors. Here are this year’s most powerful people in consulting.
- Edmund Tadros
How ATAGI lost its anonymity and political innocence
Medicine and politics collided this year. For the first time, the two men running ATAGI’s response to COVID-19 talk about what happened.
- Jill Margo
- Exclusive
- Power List
Mathias Cormann at home in Paris after a whirlwind ride
Following a gruelling campaign, Australia’s former finance minister is now in charge of the OECD as it pushes towards a new world order for taxing big tech.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Australia’s top five deal makers in 2021
In a year when big contracts are flying around like confetti, winners and losers are quickly determined and some old names return to the Power list.
- Anthony Macdonald and Sarah Thompson
October 2020
The 10 most powerful people in Australia in 2020
A man whose work ethic confounds his rivals, a banker who is power coaching the rest of the industry and a politician overlooked by the rest of his party until the pandemic hit. Meet 2020's most powerful.
- Tom McIlroy
Premiers, doctors and bankers back in charge but PM still on top
Bushfires of terrifying ferocity, followed by a global pandemic caused by a pathogen visible only with an electron microscope, have shown us real power.
- Phillip Coorey
The list to be on: 20 years of the AFR Magazine Power issue
From prime ministerial coups to back-room manoeuvrings, our annual Power issue identifies the Australians shaping the nation.
- Matthew Drummond
Australia’s 10 most covertly powerful people in 2020
Australians with the leverage to exert their influence behind the scenes.
- Tom McIlroy
How Scott Morrison learnt to filter out the noise
As a young MP, Scott Morrison was combative. But as Prime Minister – and facing an invisible enemy – he’s found a new modus operandi.
- Pamela Williams
- Opinion
- The AFR View
Power challenge now is to lead a stronger recovery
In pandemic times, the 20th anniversary of The Australian Financial Review Magazine's Power issue asks whether overt and covert networks of Australian power can harness the virus disaster to drive the changes needed for the country to emerge stronger.
- The AFR View
The 10 most culturally powerful people in Australia in 2020
What did Australia’s cultural power luminaries have in common this year? They rose to the challenge of a crisis, then set about making a difference.
- Brook Turner
New kids on the block join 2020’s property power players
For sheer innovation alone, Mike Cannon-Brookes and Scott Farquhar's plan for a $1 billion office tower wins them a placing as commercial real estate developers.
- Nick Lenaghan
September 2020
- Exclusive
- Federal budget
Josh Frydenberg has no regrets about unorthodox budget
For the Treasurer, when it comes to preparing this year's budget, flexibility is the new policy black.
- Jennifer Hewett
