Exclusive: As the aged care industry cries poor some owners are not short of cash.

Queensland TriCare's owners Paul O'Shea and sons Peter, John and Damien have had enough spare cash to donate over $80,000 to the Queensland's Liberal National Party in recent years.

The O'Shea family was ranked 30th in Queensland's Top 150 Rich List in 2014 worth $342 million.

Last night they told News Corp Australia this amount was "significantly overstated and we didn't seek to correct at the time".

Attention has been drawn to the fact the company is based in Norfolk Island.

The Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research found TriCare received $66 million aged care funding from the Federal Government in 2016-17 while the entire GDP of Norfolk Island estimated to be $68m a year in 2013-14.

The firm has said neither TriCare nor its shareholders receive any tax benefit in relation to Norfolk Island.

Director of Tricare Peter O'Shea told News Corp more than 90 per cent of TriCare's aged care revenue is spent on the day-to-day costs of operating aged care residences.

"Staffing costs comprise approximately 75 per cent of the operating costs. Food, medical and resident supplies, electricity, building maintenance etc. comprise the other 25 per cent," Mr O'Shea said.

"Of the surplus made from aged care each year, at least 80-90 per cent is re-invested back into aged care residences in the form of building refurbishment and construction of new buildings."

In Victoria, Heritage Care proprietors Peter and Areti Arvanitis flaunt prestige cars including a Maserati, Lamborghini and a Rolls Royce.

The couple's multimillion-dollar mansion in Toorak, Victoria, was recently featured in Vogue magazine and described as "the Melbourne mansion with Gucci in almost every room".

But they have also been making headlines for other reasons - the couple's Epping Gardens aged care facility had the highest number of COVID-19 cases with 211 staff and residents affected by the virus.

They have 10 homes in NSW and Victoria.

Late last week Mr Arvanitis resigned as a director of Heritage Care after intensifying focus on his and his wife Areti's wealth while the aged care industry claimed it was going bankrupt and struggled to cope with COVID-19 infections.

"Some have been critical of Peter's private wealth which was acquired before his time at Heritage Care, including the public offering of Estia Health which generated over $1 billion in 2014," Heritage Care CEO Greg Reeve told News Corp Australia.

"It's not possible for any aged care operator to generate that degree of wealth from resident fees, and it's inaccurate to imply otherwise," Mr Reeve said.

"These past business achievements have nothing to do with Heritage Care, although we have benefited from Peter's partial ownership since late 2018.

"Not wanting to be a distraction to the good work of staff, Peter has decided to resign as a Director of Heritage Care effective immediately, but will maintain his partial ownership in the business," Mr Reeve said.

Meanwhile, Arcare owner and rich lister Russell Knowles recently sold a clifftop Portsea mansion in Victoria for a speculated $13.5 million.

Regis Healthcare founder Bryan Dorman is estimated to be worth $459m and ranked 233rd on The Australian's Rich 250 list this year (up $49m on previous year).

His business partner Ian Roberts is said to be worth $616m and ranked 184th on The Australian's 2020 Rich 250 list (up $55m on previous year).

Originally published as Aged care Rich Listers 'worth $342m' as sector cries poor