A super future in nation building Top returns for members
Superannuation funds could find ways to invest in “nationbuilding projects” that also provide good returns for members, according to the new CEO of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, Mary Delahunty.
“Investment professionals (in the super fund sector) know that investment opportunities, whether they be categorised as nation-building or otherwise, need to meet an appropriate risk-adjusted return hurdle,” Ms Delahunty said.
“The fiduciary duty is paramount, but if we find opportunities in Australia to deliver broad prosperity and portfolio prosperity, then investment professionals are going to break that down and attack that as an opportunity.”
She said super funds in Australia had not been “shying away from opportunities in the energy transition or broader environmental assets, because they provide both good returns for members and good prosperity for the nation”.
Ms Delahunty said this was an area where “big capital should be seeking conversations with government”.
She said ASFA “had a role” in having discussions with its membership and “regulators and government” to “make sure those settings are right, and those two objectives can be met – returns for members and prosperity for the nation”.
Ms Delahunty, who starts her new job on Thursday, was speaking as the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority released figures showing that assets in the superannuation sector had grown to $3.5 trillion, with APRA-regulated funds now having total assets of $2.5 trillion.
A former executive with Link Market Services, and general manager of business development and policy with health and community services industry super fund HESTA, she has been running her own ESG consultancy, Seven Advisory, for the past two years.
Ms Delahunty welcomed the appointment of former federal government minister Greg Combet as the new chair of the Future Fund.
The former chair of industry super investment vehicle IFM Investors and current chair of the government’s Net Zero Economy Agency, Mr Combet has been a supporter of super funds looking to invest in “nation-building projects”.
Jim Chalmers has also argued that super funds could invest in nation-building projects, including social and affordable housing and the energy transition.
Former Future Fund chair David Murray expressed concern this week that Mr Combet’s well-known support for super funds investing in nation-building projects should not prejudice the independence of the Future Fund.
But Ms Delahunty welcomed Mr Combet’s appointment and said it was common for sovereign wealth funds around the world to invest in nation-building projects.
“Greg Combet is well respected in the (super) industry,” she said. “He has had a long tenure as chair of IFM, one of Australia’s most successful asset managers.”