Fancy a superyacht?
What would you do if you were as rich as New Zealand’s perennial richest man? In November 2023, Graeme Hart took delivery of his 102-meter superyacht, complete with hangar, helipad, and glass stairways. Apparently, it has 1100 square meters of exterior glass, including twelve windbreaks and twenty exterior sliding doors. The yacht, now known as the Ulysses, was spotted cruising from Bergen on its maiden voyage to Hart and can accommodate up to twenty guests and a crew of thirty. So, it seems that some of the wealthiest people get to be looked after in style and luxury, as that is one and a half crew for every guest on board. Hart’s superyacht has four outdoor hot tubs, a massive swimming pool on the main deck, and a winter garden.
His daughter, Gretchen Hawkesby, was pictured with Hart on a family trip to the Netherlands for the boat’s launch. So, it seems that travel is one way that Oceania’s rich pass their time. Billionaires often like us to believe that their riches are purely down to hard work; however, while Hart might have been a working dad and amassed a packaging empire by leveraging buyouts, his daughter might have had an easier ride. Hart is reported to have left school at sixteen and spent time working as a lorry driver. These days, his Nasdaq-listed Pactiv Evergreen makes everything from milk cartons to water bottles, paper, and aluminum foil. According to Forbes, he is estimated to be worth $10.2 billion, according to Forbes making him the two-hundred and twenty-second richest person in the world!
From media empire to cricket and broadcasting
In an earlier era of wealth, the Packer family made their money from their media empire, and they owned Australian Women’s Weekly, The Daily Telegraph, and the Channel Nine Television Network. Kerry Packer, born in 1937, was reported to have had a difficult relationship with his father, Frank Packer. He and his brother were meant to take up the reins, but brother Clyde left the business unable to handle dealing with his father. While he started out working in the firm, he made his name first as a world-class cricketer and then as a professional sports broadcaster. By 2005, he was one of Australia’s wealthiest people, with a fortune of $6.5 billion.
Hey, big spender!
His losing streak turned around a few weeks later, and he walked away from another smaller London club, almost £7 million up! A few weeks after that, that club closed for good. The most famous Packer gambling story was his clash with a Texan oil magnate. Packer was playing Blackjack in Las Vegas, and the Texan was annoying him with his extravagant behavior at the table. Packer asked him about his worth, and the oil baron said
“Do you know who I am? I am here because I’m worth $100 million”. Packer told him he would toss him for it. The Texan declined the offer and reportedly stopped being so annoying. Packer died in 2005, but his legendary antics live on.
Sporting pleasures
Australia’s richest woman is Gina Rinehart – according to Businessinsider, she is worth almost $19 billion – and has made her money from metals and mining. Along with the standard trappings of a jet-set lifestyle, her passion is supporting sports, and she has been awarded the Order of Merit from the Australian Olympic Organisation. She pulled out of sponsoring women’s netball in 2022 over a row about comments her late father had made about Aboriginal Australians almost four decades ago.
However, she continues to spend big on supporting swimming, volleyball, rowing, and synchronized swimming. She even has a ship named after her, the MV Gina Oldendorff. However, this is not a luxury superyacht but a ship that moves the iron from her Roy Hill mine out of Port Headland and onto the world’s markets.
Lucky dip
She also somewhat unusually hit the headlines for announcing she was planning on rewarding the staff of her company, Hancock Consulting, with random bonuses. She pledged to hand $100,000 each to 41 lucky staff members to mark her 41-year tenure at the firm. Then, to celebrate her 70th birthday party, the mining magnate gave cash prizes to a total value of $7 million to 70 employees. Her gifts are legendary – in 2022, she randomly gave 10 Roy Hill workers a $100,000 Christmas bonus by pulling ten names out of a hat! One of the winners had only been at the company for three months, and it did not go down well with some of the longest-serving employees.
Paying politics
Meanwhile, in Papua New Guinea, the rich seem to spend their time in politics – or is it that politics is a route to riches?
A recent list of the country’s wealthiest people included the current Prime Minister, James Marape, former Deputy Prime Minister Julius Chan, Former Prime Minister Peter O’Neill, former Cabinet Minister Don Poyle, and former Prime Minister Paias Wingti and Sir Robert Dadae, who is Govenor-General. Marape has strenuously denied that he is the country’s richest man, but there does seem to be a strong correlation between wealth and power in this corner of Oceania. However, while money keeps flowing into the country, the gap between the poorest and those with extreme wealth continues to widen.
Credit : www.upscalelivingmag.com