Andrew Forrest

Plans outlined last year for a life devoted to charitable causes have been swept under the carpet by Andrew Forrest, previous holder of the title of richest Australian. A punitive new tax on iron ore and coal mining proposed by the Australian Government has seen Forrest emerge as an outspoken champion of the mining industry, challenging the government before Senate hearings and at public meetings from the back of a flatbed truck. Forrest has also returned to full-time involvement with the business he launched in 2003. The onetime stockbroker and keen amateur boxer started his first mining company Anaconda Nickel (now called Minara) in 1994. Then hitched his fortune to an iron ore mine in the rugged Pilbara region of Australia's northwest. His net worth peaked at $12.7 billion in June 2008 when the mining stock hit its all-time high. Known by his schoolboy nickname "Twiggy," Forrest is a descendant of the first premier of the state of West Australia, Lord Forrest of Bunbury.