Page 3006 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 30 June 2010
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a copy of that report. I look forward to seeing it. It remains an ongoing issue, particularly given the amount of money involved, that we move away from the idea that investing ethically compromises the ability to maximise returns.
This is of course not the case and one only has to look at the returns on ethical funds both in Australia and around the world to see that over time they consistently perform as well as other funds. Further, it would be fair to say that in fact during economic downturns ethical funds have historically done better than other funds.
The question also remains, even if in some circumstances or instances it might be more profitable to make money out of particular investments, whether we want to be involved with and profit from companies that make money by building and selling weapons designed to kill people and things like tobacco companies, whose product actually costs the rest of the community many millions of dollars in health expenses, not to mention the suffering of cancer victims in the community. And they are just two examples of where that issue around ethical investment becomes an issue.
Mr Hanson: What’s wrong with those companies?
MR ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Mr Hargreaves): Mr Hanson, please! You can stand and speak when your time comes.
MS HUNTER: Thank you, Mr Assistant Speaker. I have no idea what Mr Hanson is trying to say.
The other issue that was raised during the estimates hearings as a reason why we could not move to more ethical practices was that it would mean that we could not invest in a number of managed funds that we have historically invested in and the difficulty in drawing a line and researching the activities of each of the companies. Evidence was given during the hearings that we would need a discrete fund managed exclusively for the account to achieve an ethical portfolio. And the ACT Greens do not believe that this should be the case.
As Treasury said, we already invest in a range of funds tied to the ASX 300. There is no reason that we could not move that money into other funds. The fact is that there are a range of fund managers and companies that do all the work. They research and screen out companies that do not meet the required ethical standards. For some funds, it is even open to the investor to select the types of activities that are screened out. It would be no more difficult for the superannuation provision account to invest in these funds than it is for them to invest in any others. It is no more costly, no more time consuming and no less profitable.
Whilst I do welcome the Treasurer’s indication that the government is open to discussion on this issue and that progress is being made, I must express some frustration at how long it has taken and the very reasons that have been put forward for inaction to date. The ACT has a superannuation liability that must be funded. Many in our community will depend on this money and, whilst we do support the appropriation and the stated aim of fully funding the liability by 2030, as I have said, the account should be managed differently and we should be investing differently so that public money is used for ethical purposes. This is not an unknown thing. It is
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