The ultimate Old vs New Money tier list: As a 'gauche' young mum rattles society snobs, we reveal who really belongs on each side of Australia's wealth divide

The new vs old money divide has been the talk of Sydney this week after we reported the cautionary tale of socialite Laura Hazzouri.

Mrs Hazzouri had found herself on the pointy end of a whispering campaign after a group of elite eastern suburbs housewives decided her Instagram content was 'gauche' and 'nouveau riche'.

But what exactly constitutes old and new money in Australia? As a rule, old money means family wealth accumulated at least by the mid-20th century, and often associated with grazing, mining, shipping, banking or retail.

New money, by contrast, is perhaps best summed up as, 'My father is rich, but his father wasn't.' It means a fortune typically made within a single generation, often through property development, finance, hospitality, tech or the rag trade.

Here, we reveal the most notable new and old money families in Australian high society - from mining dynasties and manufacturing heirs to technology founders and wellness moguls.

Old money

Our list begins with the Myer family, Australia's original retail royalty.

The Myers are the blueprint for old money in the land Down Under: European migrant ambition that hardened into generational power.

The fortune was founded by Sidney Myer, whose retail empire reshaped shopping and civic life in the early 20th century.

While the Myer department store brand has changed hands over time, the family's wealth lives on through the Myer Foundation, property holdings, investments and deep cultural patronage.

Leading the charge these days is Rupert Myer, a third-generation heir whose name is synonymous with arts philanthropy and corporate stewardship.

Alongside him are siblings like Sidney Myer III and Samantha Myer (now Baillieu by marriage), who maintain the family's endeavours, guiding investments, trusts and community initiatives.

The fourth generation, the grandchildren of Sidney Myer, are now coming into their own.

Names like William and Edgar Myer, as well as Joanna Baevski, are gradually stepping into roles across Myer Family Investments and The Myer Foundation. 

Heiress Lillian Myer enjoys a low-key but luxurious lifestyle in New York. 

Daughter of philanthropists Andrew and Kerry, and a direct descendant of Sidney, Lillian married husband Nathan Brown in Provence, France, last year.

The Myer family may not be the loudest dynasty in Australia, but their wealth -estimated at $1-2billion - comes with a power all its own.

Meanwhile, if Australia had a manufacturing aristocracy, the Pratts would sit at the top.

The fortune began with Leon Pratt, expanded exponentially under Richard Pratt, and is now led by Anthony Pratt, who runs Visy Industries, one of the world's largest privately‑owned packaging groups.

The family includes Jeanne Pratt, a major arts patron, and multiple second-generation heirs active across philanthropy, politics and global business. 

The new generation of Pratts includes toothpaste entrepreneur Georgia Geminder and model Bella Falk (née Geminder), who are Richard's granddaughters. 

Gina Rinehart, Australia's richest person and a titan of mining, also firmly belongs on our old money list.

Gina inherited Hancock Prospecting from her father, Lang Hancock, whose family were prosperous pastoralists before he became the great iron ore pioneer of Western Australia.

She grew the business amid high‑profile family disputes and expanded into mining, agriculture and media, making the Rinehart name synonymous with power and riches.

Gina, whose children are Bianca, Hope, John and Ginia, has an estimated net worth of $35-40billion.

The MacLachlans - rural, quiet and extremely asset-rich - also exemplify wealth, albeit without the same visibility as the Rineharts.

The quintessential quiet pastoral dynasty, their wealth was built over generations through Jumbuck Pastoral Company, one of the country's largest sheep and cattle empires spanning South Australia, WA, New South Wales and the Northern Territory. 

The family traces its roots to H.P. MacLachlan, who founded the business in 1888, and today leadership is shared among his descendants, including Hugh MacLachlan, sons Jock and Callum, and daughters Airlie, Islay and Brooke. 

While they fly under the media radar, their influence is enormous, and their wealth - estimated between $500million and $1billion - comes without the flashy headlines, making them a textbook example of the old money philosophy.

The same can't be said for the Packer family, whose wealth came from mass media.

The last heir to Australia's most famous media dynasty, James Packer inherited a fortune that began with his newspaper proprietor grandfather Frank Packer and was expanded by his father, former Nine Network owner Kerry Packer.

James shifted the family focus from media to casinos and global investments.

Even though Crown Resorts has been partially sold down, he retains control over family trusts and private investments, preserving influence across entertainment, business and media.

His net worth is estimated at $3-4billion, and he remains one of Australia's most well-known businessmen. 

A quintessential Melbourne establishment family, the Baillieus trace their wealth to the 19th century, with their main investment arm today being wealth management firm Mutual Trust, which merged with the Myer family office in 2017.

The fortune is generally traced back to William Lawrence Baillieu, who, from relatively humble beginnings in Queenscliff, became a financier and politician of great influence around the turn of the 20th century.

He began a dynasty that maintains influence across politics, finance and philanthropy, with descendants and relatives including Clive Baillieu, who would earn the British peerage of baron in 1953; former Victorian premier (2010 to 2013) Ted Baillieu; former journalist Kate Baillieu; and 1983 America's Cup crew member Will Baillieu.

There are more - too many to mention here - especially when one takes into account the various Baillieu marriages with other noteworthy Australian families, such as the Myers, Darlings, Horderns and Carnegies.

Another prominent family are the Inghams, whose story really began when Jack Ingham and brother Bob, upon their father's death in the 1950s, took over the family's relatively small poultry business.

The rest, as they say, is history. Inghams grew to become Australia's largest poultry empire and was sold in 2014 for $880 million to American private equity firm TPG Inc., then known as TPG Capital.

The proceeds have no doubt ensured a comfortable income stream for the investments and private ventures of the various heirs.

Among the most media-savvy descendants are socialites Tamie and Jess Ingham.

Tamie is married to celebrated French‑Australian celebrity chef Guillaume Brahimi, while Jess recently split from her second husband, property tycoon Roger Zraika.

The family's estimated net worth is $3-4billion, keeping the Inghams firmly in the upper tier of old‑money dynasties.

New money 

What better way to introduce our new money families than with the woman who sparked all the chatter: Laura Hazzouri.

Mrs Hazzouri, who is married to property developer Charbel Hazzouri, recently found herself in the crosshairs of Sydney's self‑styled elites because of her supposedly 'gauche' display of wealth on Instagram.

She had posted a meticulously styled 'day in the life' video documenting her journey to the Maldives with her family, prompting one notable eastern suburbs housewife to say: '[It's] not real or relatable. You don't see Deb Symond O'Neil - who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth - sharing videos like that.'

In many ways, the flashy Hazzouris exemplify Sydney new money, with Laura - who hails from Dubbo and married her successful husband in 2014 - drawing attention to her wealth on social media in ways that old‑money types rarely do.

While agricultural fortunes are often associated with 19th‑century old money, the Stathams are generally regarded as new money.

The dashing, young Wilson Statham - who has found himself in the media of late thanks to his romance with sports presenter Grace Hayden - represents the new generation of the Statham family's cotton and cropping empire. 

Their fortune comes from the Sundown Pastoral Company, a sprawling agricultural business that was founded in 1964. 

Over the decades that followed, the family expanded that initial farm into a major agricultural enterprise covering hundreds of thousands of acres of highly fertile land across NSW and Queensland. 

Today the company is owned and operated by Wilson's parents, David and Danielle Statham, who lead the business with a focus on sustainable cropping and cotton production after shifting away from large‑scale cattle operations.

Another addition to our list is Roxy Jacenko. While she is often described as self‑made, she didn't start from zero - though her family's wealth only goes back a generation.

Her parents, highly motivated (and since divorced) migrant couple Nick Jacenko and Doreen Davis, made their money in the rag trade, allowing Roxy access to private schooling and, later, office space when she was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug in her early 20s.

She built her PR company Sweaty Betty into a leading luxury public‑relations firm, though she has since closed the business and now works in influencer management.

Her status as a new‑money icon was cemented by her marriage to former investment banker Oliver Curtis, whose artificial intelligence start‑up Firmus Technologies recently tripled its valuation to $6billion.

Also on our new money list is Nick Molnar - the poster child for fintech success. 

Co‑founding Afterpay in his early 20s, Molnar transformed the buy‑now‑pay‑later model into a global phenomenon, later selling the company to Block (formerly Square) for billions.

Unlike many tech moguls, he prefers to maintain a relatively low profile.

His net worth is estimated at $1–2billion, securing him a place among Australia's most successful self‑made entrepreneurs.

Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht enjoy similar status thanks to their wildly successful company Canva. 

Founding Canva in Perth, the couple grew the platform into a global design tool used by millions, attracting international investment and turning them into billionaires in the process.

Melanie's vision paired with Cliff's operational skill created one of Australia's most prominent tech success stories.

Together, their net worth is estimated at $10–12billion. 

Over in the world of hospitality, Merivale boss Justin Hemmes finds himself among the highest echelons of new‑money families. 

Justin inherited his nightlife empire from his father John Hemmes, who began acquiring Sydney pubs and hotels decades ago and, according to one obituary published after his death in March 2015, 'epitomised the rags-to-riches romance of Australia's most successful migrant experiences'.

After taking over the company named for his mother Merivale Hemmes (née Brennan), Justin aggressively expanded, building it into the country's most powerful hospitality group, now worth an estimated $1.5billion.

His personal life has made headlines over the years, too.

Formerly in a long‑term relationship with Kate Fowler - the mother of his two daughters, Saachi and Alexa - he is now with model Madeline Holtznagel, with whom he welcomed a third child, son Jaeger, in June last year.

Jessica Sepel and Dean Steingold have also built a new-money empire in wellness.

Starting with Jessica's nutrition expertise and Instagram following, they launched JSHealth, which has grown into a global lifestyle brand stocked in major retailers and online marketplaces.

Their combined net worth is estimated at $300–500million, reflecting both brand value and operational success.  

Another power couple, Pilates queen Bernadette Fahey and property developer husband Jordan Sukkar, also represent a relatively new era of Sydney wealth. 

Bernadette is the founder of one of Sydney's most popular Pilates studios, Body by Berner, while Jordan has spent much of his career in various roles at his family's construction company Buildcorp, eventually rising to Chief Operating Officer. 

Buildcorp was founded in 1990 by Tony and Josephine Sukkar and secured its first major project during a recession, making it the family's fortune unquestionably 'new'.

Jordan and Bernadette - known as 'Bernie' - are no strangers to flaunting their wealth, having tied the knot at a lavish ceremony in late 2024 before jetting off for an equally opulent European honeymoon. 

Another couple in the new-money bracket is Chris and Sarah Lucas.

Restaurateur Chris Lucas is the force behind some of the country's most successful venues, including Chin Chin, Hawker Hall, Kisumé, Society, Yakimono and Grill Americano, while wife Sarah has played a key role in shaping the group's brand identity, interiors and overall aesthetic. 

While the Lucas Group remains privately held, their combined net worth is widely estimated to be in the high hundreds of millions.

But before becoming a fixture of Melbourne's new-money scene, Sarah lived a very different life surrounded by old money thanks to her previous marriage to Steven Lew, the son of billionaire retailer Solomon 'Solly' Lew. 

The Lews built their fortune over generations, through interests in major retail brands, shopping centres and investment vehicles.

Elsewhere, socialite Lou O'Neil (née Hay) sits among the new‑money crowd, boasting her wealth thanks to her late father Donald Hay's manufacturing company.

Donald founded Hayco, the household-products empire best known for its toilet brushes and everyday cleaning tools.

He turned the company into a global operation, supplying mass retailers worldwide. 

Lou - who is known to show off her designer wardrobe and luxury lifestyle on social media - is married to Addenbrooke director Jake O'Neil, the son of Rose Bay Marina owner and legendary property developer Denis.

Another Sydney socialite on the new-money list is Deborah Symond O'Neil, who recently made headlines for her splashy Christmas get-together. 

Deb, the founder of athleisure‑wear retailer Mode Sportif, is the daughter of Aussie Home Loans founder John Symond - the son of Lebanese fruit shop owners who founded his mortgage brokerage in February 1992 using a $10k loan from his brother.

That's a life story that makes him the very definition of new‑money success.

Cementing her establishment credentials, Deb tied the knot with Ned O'Neil - Jake's brother and also a key figure in the Addenbrooke family business - in a lavish Whitsundays ceremony in 2018.

And speaking of the O'Neils, they would also appear to be relatively new money - having made their fortune from the mid‑20th century onward - albeit with a longer wealth lineage than some of the other families on this list.

• The Daily Mail does not suggest that any of the 'old money' figures mentioned or pictured in this article were involved in spreading gossip about Mrs Hazzouri.

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