Twenty years ago, Australia’s rich list was topped by media tycoons, property developers, manufacturers, and transport company owners. Back then, shifts on the list of the country’s most wealthy happened gradually, and fortunes rarely exceeded $5 billion. Since then, the rapid industrialization and urbanization of China has driven a commodity “super-cycle,” creating massive demand for minerals like iron ore, the primary input for making iron and steel.

Once considered a fairly dull commodity, iron ore prices have tripled in the last fifteen years, generating a new class of mining magnates with vast and volatile fortunes. Like other resource companies, they have spread their tentacles deep into the Australian political machine to ensure that their interests and the public interest are seen as synonymous.