Migrants pulled up by bootstraps
ONE in seven on this year's Queensland Top 100 Rich List are migrants - and, of those 13, three are in the top 10.
The presence of so many people born overseas among our most successful entrepreneurs gives a new perspective to the debate over population growth and migration levels.
While Prime Minister Julia Gillard has talked in broader terms about ''a sustainable Australia'', Coalition leader Tony Abbott has flagged cutting annual migrant numbers from 277,000 to 170,000 in three years.
Maha Sinnathamby - who grew up in poverty in Malaysia, coming to Australia as a student - is now one of Queensland's most successful developers and the visionary behind the state's first private city, Greater Springfield, in Ipswich.
He says Australia would suffer by curbing migration.
''A migrant is someone who generally leaves a country to go somewhere else to better himself or herself,'' he said.
''They are driven to succeed. Generally, they don't come to be bludgers. We are all migrants. That's the great thing about this country. I call it the beautiful face of Australia.''
Few migrants in the Top 100 were already successful when they came to Australia. Many would not have been ''skilled migrants''.
The overseas-born contingent includes billionaire John Van Lieshout, founder of the Super A-mart furniture chain.
One of 12 children, he came from Holland with his parents, struggled with English and left school at 14 to work in a fruit market. Now he's the state's third-richest person.
Mr Sinnathamby's estimated $777 million fortune puts him at No.6, with shopping centre tycoon Gordon Fu from Taiwan at No.10.
Jiwan and Suman Mohan arrived from India with not much more than they could carry 34 years ago. Now their international wholesale foods company is worth more than $500 million.
Other migrants include hairdresser Steve (Stefan) Ackerie, who was born in Lebanon, and one-woman business empire Sarina Russo, who migrated from Sicily as a child.
Newcomers to the list include New Zealand-born Robert McVicker, who owns the fast-growing Morris Corporation catering and logistics firm, and Tamawood Homes's Lev Mizikovsky, who grew up in a region that is now part of the Russian Federation.
