Australia comes at number 14 in the Forbes list of best countries for business. A high GDP per capita, low unemployment and inflation and balanced budgetary spending mean that it is indeed one of the best places on Earth to start a business yet we don’t see the kind of billionaires and millionaires rising from our continent than the likes of North America, Europe, or even Asia. The truth is that we are quite self-reliant people, we are professional but we also love to have fun. Nevertheless, we have CEOs who are earning paychecks that seem unreal. Here are ten of the best paid Aussie CEOs:

 

10. Nicholas Moore (Macquarie Group)

A board member as well as CEO of Macquarie group since 2008, Nicholas Moore is at 11.4 million AUD – Moore has dropped some steps in recent years.

9. Mike Wilkins (IAG)

Employed by the $12 billion insurance group, Mike Wilkins has been recently replaced by Peter harmer, but he was at $11.5 million. Insurance is big business.

8. Ken McKenzie (AMCOR)

After ten years at the helm, Ken has now been finally replaced by Ron Delia but not before he earned his last paycheck of $12.7 million.

7. Gail Kelly (Westpac)

The first woman in the list is Gail Kelly, who is worth a LOT more as Forbes estimates her wealth at around $3.36 billion. She is considered the most powerful woman in finance in the country. Solely as CEO she earns around $12.9 million.

6. Colin Goldschmidt (Sonic Healthcare)

The first doctor in the list, Colin Goldschmidt is the CEO of Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology. He earned around $13.4 million last year.

5. Andrew Mackenzie (BHP Billiton)

The CEO of one of the largest oil, minerals and metals mining company. Apart from stock options, just his salary is around $15.6 million.

4. Andrew Bassat (SEEK)

He is the current CEO of SEEK, which is the largest online job portal in Australia and has now become a vast company. He is at $17.9 million per year.

3. Louis Gries (James Hardie)

The CEO of James Hardie, the leading producer of building material gets his hard work’s worth $20.8 million.

2. Peter Steven Lowy (Westfield)

The largest retailer in Australia CEO earned $24.4 million last year.

1. Christopher Rex (Ramsay Health)

Interestingly, the highest paid CEO of any company in Australia is from the healthcare industry. Christopher Rex has been at the helm for more than seven years. He gets 31 million dollars in all. Now imagine what he would have summed up in seven years!