According to Oxfam Australia, an arm of the worldwide charity organization, 48 billionaires in the country possess more wealth than the lowest 40 percent of the population, which equates to nearly 11 million people out of Australia’s 27 million residents.

Last year, these billionaires collectively saw their wealth grow by an impressive $10.5 billion.

For instance, the wealth of Harry Triguboff increased by an amount that could fund the construction of 10,600 new homes.

This finding mirrors a global pattern, where the wealth of the world’s 3,000 billionaires surged by 16 percent, reaching a total of $27.7 trillion last year, marking the highest point in history.

In stark contrast, over 3.7 million Australians are currently living in poverty, as reported by Oxfam.

Furthermore, it was revealed that one in three households experienced food insecurity last year, indicating they either worried about or had difficulty affording food.

Oxfam Australia chief executive Jennifer Tierney said rising billionaire wealth exposed a failing system.

“The gap between those doing it toughest and those benefiting most is stark, and well evidenced.”

Oxfam called on the Australian government to reduce the gap by reforming the tax system to effectively tax billionaires, including ending the capital gains tax discount and phasing out negative gearing.

Greens treasury spokesperson, Nick McKim, who is chairing a Senate inquiry into the capital gains tax discount, agreed that Labor needed to make billionaires pay their fair share.

“The Oxfam report shows exactly what’s broken in our economy,” he said.

“While renters and working people are doing it tough, billionaires are pocketing more than half a million dollars a day, turbo-charged by tax breaks like the capital gains tax discount.

“Ending handouts to the extreme wealthy would free up billions for housing, cost-of-living relief and the services Australians rely on.”

Research by national housing campaign Everybody’s Home in September found that the federal government was losing between $111 million and and $556 million in forgone revenue through negative gearing deductions – a concession that applies when the cost of owning an investment outweighs the income it generates.

But federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers has ruled out any changes to negative gearing or the capital gains tax discount after Labor’s promises of tax reform cost the party at the 2016 and 2019 elections.