{"id":341003,"date":"2025-12-11T05:28:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T05:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/341003\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T05:28:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T05:28:13","slug":"the-four-most-powerful-women-in-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/341003\/","title":{"rendered":"The four most powerful women in Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPublished on\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tDecember 11, 2025\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

From mining magnates to tech innovators, these are the four Australians to make Forbes Power Women list in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Forbes has just unveiled its Most Powerful Women<\/a> list, with president of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, Ursula von der Leyen, topping the chart for 2025. All in all, 17 newcomers featured on the list of 100, who collectively command US$37 trillion in economic power and influence more than 1 billion people.<\/p>\n

Last year, five Australians made this list. This year, it\u2019s four. Here they are.<\/p>\n

52. Gina Rinehart<\/p>\n

Ranked 52nd among the world\u2019s most powerful women \u2013 and the top rank for an Australian \u2013 mining magnate Gina Rinehart is executive chairwoman of Hancock Prospecting and the daughter of iron ore explorer Lang Hancock. She rebuilt her late father\u2019s financially distressed company, Hancock Prospecting, making significant investments into rare earth minerals and the gas sector. She is Australia\u2019s second-largest cattle producer, with a portfolio of properties across the country, and the\u00a0nation\u2019s richest person<\/a>\u00a0according to Forbes data.<\/p>\n

\"\"GOLD COAST, AUSTRALIA \u2013 MARCH 02: Mining magnate and business women Gina Rinehart is seen watching on during the 2018 Australia Swimming National Trials at the Optus Aquatic Centre on March 2, 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

53. Michele Bullock<\/p>\n

The first female Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Michele Bullock has come in at 53rd on Forbes\u2019 Most Powerful Women list. Bullock had worked at the RBA for almost four decades and took on the role of Deputy Chair back in April 2022. <\/p>\n

\"\"Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, Michele Bullock during the panel Inflation, Financial Stability and Employment at the HKMA-BIS High-Level Conference on November 27, 2023 in Hong Kong, China. (Photo by Vernon Yuen\/NurPhoto via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

58. Shemara Wikramanayake <\/p>\n

58th on the list is Managing Director and CEO of the Macquarie Group, Shemara Wikramanayake, a role she has held since 2018. Wikramanayake joined Macquarie in 1987. She was born in the U.K and spent time in Sri Lanka before immigrating to Australia with her parents when she was 13.<\/p>\n

Wikramanayake established Macquarie\u2019s corporate advisory offices in New Zealand, Hong Kong and Malaysia, and funds management businesses in North America.<\/p>\n

\"\"NEW YORK, NEW YORK \u2013 SEPTEMBER 24: Shemara Wikramanayake, CEO of Macquarie Group speaks onstage at the Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Forum 2025 at The Plaza Hotel on September 24, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder\/Getty Images for Bloomberg Philanthropies)<\/p>\n

93. Melanie Perkins<\/p>\n

Perth-born founder and CEO Melanie Perkins came in at 93rd on the list this year, down three spots on last year. The 37-year-old founded disruptive tech company Canva in 2013 with Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams. Canva\u2019s valuation reached AUD$49 billion in 2024. The platform has 200 million monthly active users and $2.5 billion in annualised revenue.<\/p>\n

\"\"SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA \u2013 OCTOBER 14: Canva CEO Melanie Perkins laughs during the SXSW Key Note conversation with General Partner at BOND Mary Meeker on October 14, 2024 in Sydney, Australia. (Photo by Nina Franova\/Getty Images for SXSW Sydney)<\/p>\n

Look back on the week that was with hand-picked articles from Australia and around the world.\u00a0Sign up to the Forbes Australia newsletter here<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0become a member here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on December 11, 2025 From mining magnates to tech innovators, these are the four Australians to make…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,60501,189466,14819,44,189467],"class_list":["post-341003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-gina-rinehart","tag-melanie-perkins","tag-michele-bullock","tag-news","tag-shemara-wikramanayake"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}