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The Australian Financial Review Magazine
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Power

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

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AFR Magazine 2020 in pictures

The photographs and illustrations that brought to life our glossy pages throughout the year.

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
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October 2020

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

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

How corporate Australia clawed back its power in 2020

When the crisis hit, one leader grasped its significance – and the opportunity it provided – more quickly than anyone.

  • James Thomson
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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

The 10 most powerful people in Australian business in 2020

As the business sector’s most prominent member of Team Australia, CBA chief executive Matt Comyn tops this year’s list of corporate heavy-hitters.

  • James Thomson

Will Josh Frydenberg be outmatched by the recession?

Australia's Treasurer wants to one day lead the country. But first the “glass-half-full guy” needs to lead the nation out of recession.

  • Jennifer Hewett

Australia’s five most powerful consultants in 2020

Major firms – including the big four – had been posting strong year-on-year growth amid rising demand. Then the pandemic hit, hard and fast.

  • Edmund Tadros

The top five power brokers in law for 2020

The sexual harassment scandal involving one of the most powerful men in the law has been a #metoo moment for the legal profession. Here are the people shaping the new landscape.

  • Michael Pelly

Atlassian bosses top the list of Australia’s tech titans

Few sectors have had the chance to prove their power as much as the technology industry during the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Paul Smith

Cochlear sets the tone for power banking play

It was mid-March, stockmarkets were in meltdown and Cochlear had a problem. What happens next underscores a wild ride for dealmakers.

  • Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald and Tim Boyd

Biden insiders reveal how he can win

As its date with destiny nears, a divided nation faces a dramatic choice. Can the man who’s seemingly stepped up from a lost era lead America into a new one? US correspondent Jacob Greber finds out.

  • Jacob Greber

Australia’s top five deal makers in 2020

As COVID-19 hit earnings, boards sought to shore up their balance sheets and sparked an equity raising spree. How those tickets were landed was a game of power.

  • Sarah Thompson and Anthony Macdonald

The five most powerful people in education

Reform of vocational education and realism among universities are the key to power in education.

  • Robert Bolton
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Business must be physically part of universities: Terry

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the middle of Boston is a good example. You can't tell when one begins and the other ends.

  • Robert Bolton

February 2020

Can Alan Joyce fly Qantas into aviation history?

Airlines need to be match fit to survive, let alone thrive, says the Qantas CEO – and he applies the same discipline to himself.

  • Jemima Whyte and Fiona Carruthers

October 2019

How we created this year's Power issue of AFR Magazine

Go behind the scenes on AFR Magazine's most logistically challenging issue.

  • Matthew Drummond

Scott Morrison must turn power into prosperity

The PM has a grip on his job that eluded his predecessors. But there is a hollowness in policymaking that needs to be filled.

  • The AFR View

Australia's 10 most covertly powerful people

Meet the big players who manipulate the levers of influence from behind the scenes.

  • Tom McIlroy