It's Official - Triple J Is A Powerful Influence On Australian Culture

Every year Australian Financial Review (AFR) release their huge Power issue — now in its 15th year, a panel of important people themselves analyse Australia's biggest power players in the sectors of banking, law, culture and more.

With a panel this year including former federal Liberal minister Amanda Vanstone, NSW Chairman of ANZ Bank Warwick Smith and NSW Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos, ABC and national youth broadcaster triple j has been named in the top five of the Cultural Power List.

Coming in at #4 this year though they didn't make the list in 2014, the panel's Martin Parkinson, former secretary of the Department of Treasury, said, "I nominated triple j because of its 40th anniversary. That's 40 years of changing attitudes of young Australians and supporting Australian music."

Echoing the sentiment, panellist David Friedlander, partner at King & Wood Mallesons, said, "I sit in an open-plan office and all the guys who sit around me are in their 20s. Every week I learn something new that Tom Tilley has told them on triple j's Hack. He just seems to have a big influence on the thinking of the 20-somethings."

Triple j/ABC were topped by Peter McClellan of Royal Commissions at #1, family violence advocate Rosie Batty at #2 and ISIS and the threat of terrorism picked up #3 on the Cultural Power list.

Triple j beat out same sex marriage at #5, Former Arts Minister George Brandis (though he's belatedly still touted as the Arts Minister in AFR) at #6, Chinese investors in the Australian property market at #7, Vice Chancellor of University of Melbourne Glyn Davis at #8, author Richard Flanagan at #9, Australian Military Chiefs at #10, Think Tanks at #11, Big Data at #12, Australian Pavilion in Venice at #13, Australian Human Rights Commission President Gillian Triggs at #14 and Sydney Swans player Adam Goodes at #15. 

The AFR Power issue also contained lists for Overt Power and Covert Power.