From Nicole Kidman to Russell Crowe: Designing homes for the rich and famous

Blainey North has designed interiors and furniture for everyone from Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe, to the Packer family, the Pratts and Kerry Stokes. She even did the mirror over Shane Warne’s bed. Here she riffs on the special relationships required to bring out the best in her and her clients. What’s the most beautiful […]

Luxury on ice: The ultimate Antarctica bucket-list adventure

A once-in-a-lifetime expedition reserved for the adventurous elite, the Silversea Endeavour feels like a floating six-star hotel that can take you to a part of the world very few have explored. Forbes Australia editor-in-chief SARAH O’CARROLL reports. “GOOD MORNING, Ms Sarah. It’s Francis, your butler.”   It’s breakfast time. I open the suite door to Francis, […]

From flashpacker to ASX-listed CEO with a $350 million market cap

Software company ReadyTech was bootstrapped for its first five years by backpacker co-founder, Marc Washbourne. Today, the ASX-listed company with a market cap of $350 million employs 500 people around the globe. Washbourne explains how those tough early years primed the business for success. Marc Washbourne was a twenty-something history graduate and self-taught software developer […]

Forrests back First Nations venture capital fund

Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation and the US State Department are backing a syndicate of indigenous Australian venture capital investors aiming to focus on seeding First Nations startups. The launch of Blak Angels by Minderoo comes hot on the heels of the announcement last week that the Forrests had donated a further $5 billion […]

The self-made billionaire bringing robotic submarines Down Under

Palmer Luckey sold his first business to Facebook for US$2 billion when he was 21. At 30, he’s bringing his defence disruptor to Australia to build submarines and much more. Palmer Luckey loves Australia. The proud American patriot, famous for Hawaiian shirts and libertarian views, also has a great fondness for Australia’s bureaucrats.   “Try spending […]

‘Mission critical’: Aussie start-ups fighting the $8 trillion cyber-war

In 2022, millions of Australians had their data accessed by hackers via two major cyber-attacks: Optus in September and Medibank in October. The havoc continued when 14 million personal customer records were stolen from Latitude Financial. Since then, the Australian government has announced changes to beef up Australia’s cyber security.  “Sorry too 10.200 Australians whose […]

Who is Hamish Harding? Billionaire adventurer missing on Titanic tourist sub

Five people, including billionaire Hamish Harding, are missing after a small tourist submersible vanished somewhere around the Titanic wreckage. A small submersible, that is around the size of a minivan, and costs $US250,000 per ride has gone missing around the wreck of the infamous Titanic. The vessel, owned by OceanGate, is operated by a single […]