The Neilson Family

The Neilson family’s wealth began with the business ventures of Kerr Neilson, an investment manager who co-founded the hedge fund Platinum Asset Management in 1994.

The hedge fund industry was booming during the 1990s and early 2000s, a time during which there were “no specific regulations covering hedge funds in Australia”, according to a report by the Reserve Bank. Hedge funds have been under scrutiny for the major role they play in destabilising the economy and concentrating wealth, through practices such as speculative betting, short-selling and leveraging borrowed money. They have been found to contribute to financial crashes through their tendency to manipulate market forces. Fund managers tend to benefit the most from such crises, earning large management fees and performance bonuses — even if the fund’s overall performance is average. Kerr Neilson became a billionaire through Platinum Asset Management in 2007, just before the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.

Australian law does not require funds to disclose their portfolio holdings. Accordingly, like most hedge funds, Platinum Asset Management is opaque about its investments. In addition, wealthy investors and hedge fund managers have been known to lobby governments, allowing the industry to continue operating unregulated. Platinum has made significant political donations in the past (although it should be noted that the company created an anti-bribery and corruption policy in 2021). In 2020, Kerr Neilson was also named as one of a number of fund managers who benefitted from the “vertical integration” scandal involving the big banks. This was a scandal in which wealth managers “encouraged clients to borrow heavily to invest in financial products”, to the detriment of Australian consumers. Kerr Neilson stepped down from his position as fund manager in 2018, but remains Platinum’s largest shareholder.

Kerr Neilson’s former wife, Judith Neilson, became a billionaire in her own right in 2015, having gained her wealth through their divorce settlement. Judith is known primarily for her philanthropy in the arts, particularly in Sydney. She founded the White Rabbit Gallery, which houses one of the world’s largest collections of contemporary Chinese art, and Phoenix Central Park, a contemporary performance space. She also established the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism & Ideas (JN Institute) in 2018, which aimed to be non-partisan and promote quality, evidence-based journalism. However, in 2022 four independent directors resigned, citing concerns about “independence from the source of the funding” after Neilson intervened in decisions about grants, allegedly demanding more involvement in the institute. Despite the relaunch of the project in 2024, the JN Institute is no longer offering grants and appears inactive, with its website currently unavailable.

The Neilson daughters, Paris and Beau, are art collectors and have significant influence in Sydney’s arts scene. Beau Neilson was the Creative Director of Phoenix Central Park, and is now the owner of Newtown’s The Vanguard.

In 2022 The Neilson Foundation donated a total of around $20 million to the construction of Sydney’s Walsh Bay Arts Precinct, which included $5 million for the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s new recital venue at Pier 2/3. The Foundation also supports the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Omega Ensemble, the Sydney Writer’s Festival and the Sydney Dance Company, among a host of other arts institutions.