About The Power Index

The Power Index has been created to address one simple, yet complex question: who really runs Australia? Who are the people who hold and exert the most power and influence? And how? And why?

Led by Paul Barry – one of the country's most respected investigative journalists – our team of reporters and editors in Sydney and Melbourne follow trends in power on a daily basis and will name the most powerful people in Australia across 24 categories, supported by hundreds of deep, thoughtful and entertaining profiles of the people who pull the strings.

The Power Index is made up of the following elements:

A free website

The Power Index website offers daily news, views and features about power and influence in Australia, with the team following the movements of the powerful.

The Power Lists

These lists, in 24 categories of power and influence, are at the heart of understanding who runs Australia. Across the year, our editorial team conducts hundreds of interviews with knowledgeable people at, and close to, the centre of power. On and off the record.

The result is 24 lists, ranked in order, of the ten most powerful and influential people in each of these key categories:

1. Political fixers
2. Megaphones
3. Money movers
4. Law enforcers
5. Sydney
6. Sport
7. New Media
8. Lobbyists
9. Moguls
10. Melbourne
11. Thinkers and Agenda Setters
12. Spinners
13. Culturati
14. Adelaide
15. Legal Eagles
16. New money
17. Bureaucrats, Diplomats and Policy Makers
18. Brisbane
19. Journalists
20. Business Leaders
21. Philanthropists and NGO leaders
22. Perth
23. Editors and Producers
24. Politicians

A new category is unveiled every two weeks. Each contains "insider" profiles of the ten most powerful people in the category, as well as profiles of important figures who didn't quite make the list and a careful explanation of how power actually works unique to each category.

In July, at the end of each year of categories and lists, we publish the Power 50 -- a list ranked in order of Australia's most influential and powerful people, selected by a panel of powerful experts and observers.

Every profile in The Power Index paints a rich picture of each personality, as well as revealing the way they wield power, what motivates and drives them, their networks, connections and powerful relationships, insights into their personal and professional style and habits, and observations of how others see them. Profiles are updated whenever relevant news affects someone on the list.

The Power Index is not a list of powerful office-holders or people in leadership positions. It is a deeply-researched biographical directory of the people who pull Australia's levers of power and influence -- overtly and covertly -- supported by a news feed that takes readers inside the subterranean world of power and influence every weekday.

The first two Power Index lists and profiles – Political Fixers and Megaphones – are available free. After that, each category list, bundled into special e-books called Power Reports, will cost $7.95, or unlimited access to all 25 Power Reports plus full access to The Power Index archive costs $99 for a full year.

The Power 50

This is our annual report ranking the 50 Most Powerful People in Australia. Released after all 24 power category lists have been published, The Power 50 is selected by a panel of experts and observers. The Power 50 can be purchased on an individual basis, and is available to anyone who purchases full year access to The Power Index.

The free Power Daily

Every weekday, The Power Index editorial team delivers news and views from the world of power and influence, as well as snippets from our Power Lists and Power Reports. The Power Daily is free to registered subscribers in a lunchtime email alert.

Power Reports

There are 25 e-books published across the year. Each one contains a single power list category as a downloadable PDF e-book -- each with an introduction, notes regarding power trends in the category, conclusion, and profiles of the Top Ten as well as other individuals who did not quite make the cut.

How we pick the powerful

Each of our Power Lists takes six weeks of interviews and investigation to put together. We examine what people have done in the previous 12 months to see how they're likely to wield their power in the future and determine if they're actually as potent as they're perceived to be. We then come up with a short list that we discuss with the experts who work in the field or know it best, and from that we arrive at our Top Ten. For a more detailed breakdown of our process go here.