We're fond of the knockabout retailer Gerry Harvey - worth A$1.8 billion ($1.9 billion) - who likes a punt and talks just like us.
We're proud of Frank Lowy (worth A$7.8 billion), a Hungarian migrant who built up his Westfield property empire from nothing and has poured millions of dollars into supporting Australian football.
And we all enjoy following the ups and downs of casino mogul James Packer (worth A$6 billion) who dates supermodels and isn't averse to brawling in the street.
The one exception is Gina Rinehart - the mining heiress who with A$14 billion sits atop the Rich List once again.
Rinehart's wealth has slipped by A$6 billion since last year thanks to the falling iron ore price.
Famous for her hard-line views, Rinehart has urged Australians to work harder and maintains we have to compete with Africans, who she says are prepared to work for $2 a day.
"If you're jealous of those with more money, don't just sit there and complain, do something to make more money yourself - spend less time drinking, or smoking and socialising, and more time working," she wrote in an opinion column a couple of years ago.
Alternatively, you could inherit several billion dollars' worth of iron ore deposits from your Dad like she did. News of her shrinking wealth capped off a bad week for Rinehart, but she's not the sort of character who engenders sympathy.
Following a protracted court battle with two of her four children, on Thursday she lost control of a A$5 billion family trust that holds about a quarter of her mining company Hancock Prospecting.
The trust was set up by Rinehart's father, Lang Hancock, for his four grandchildren in 1988 but has been tightly controlled by Gina since then.
There could be worse to come. John Hancock and Bianca Rinehart, the two children who took the court action, allege she withheld highly valuable assets from the trust and had her children sign deeds preventing them from challenging her actions.
If Gina Rinehart loses that action her stake in the family mining company will drop to a little over 51 per cent, reducing the mining royalties she receives.
The Sydney Morning Herald calculated that if that happens and the iron ore price continues to fall, her fortune could sink to less than A$1 billion. It will be a spectacle many of us will enjoy watching.
Self-made men
The Rich Listers haven't been hurt by the tepid economy. Australia now has 49 billionaires, 10 more than last year, and the average wealth of the list's 200 members is A$975 million, up from A$968 million last year.
The list also reveals an enduring truth about wealth creation in Australia, which also applies in New Zealand - it's all about property.
The mining boom has created a few fortunes along the way, but more of Australia's rich have made their money not by digging up the ground but by building on top of it.
Of the 200 Rich Listers, some 53 made their fortunes in property compared with just 18 from resources.
Most built their fortunes from nothing, often after a very modest start in life - only three of the 20 richest Australians inherited their wealth. And about a fifth of the Rich List are migrants, revealing Australia really can be the land of opportunity.
Things tougher now
Last week I wrote about how Australian businesses aren't investing or chasing growth.
Since then, data has revealed the problem is worse than anyone thought and it risks tipping Australia into recession.
Business investment will fall by a huge 25 per cent in 2015-16, according to a survey of business intentions by the government statistician.
On the back of the survey the outlook has switched "from bleak to recessionary", said UBS economist George Tharenou.
The figures come a couple of weeks after the Abbott Government introduced a Budget it hoped would restore business confidence. It hasn't worked and the Government is running out of options.
The problem with weak business spending is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. When businesses cut back on their spending, it harms other businesses and these in turn cut back on their own spending.
Round and round the cutbacks go until we're in recession. That's what Australia is facing now.
Christopher Niesche is a former editor of the Business Herald.
