SMART THINKER
Radiation oncologist Dr Bronwyn King is the proud founder of Tobacco Free Portfolios, whose aim is to encourage tobacco-free finance around the world.
Dr Bronwyn King wants to encourage tobacco-free finance worldwide.
Dr Bronwyn King had no idea that an ‘afterthought’ could change her life. Ten years ago, she was working as a radiation oncologist at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne. She was also looking to buy a house with her husband. On the advice of her accountant, she scheduled a meeting at her work with a representative from her superannuation fund to discuss her financial affairs.
“At that point in time, I really had never thought about superannuation, ever,” she says. “I knew it existed, but that was about it.”
The meeting itself wasn’t noteworthy. “But then – as an afterthought, I asked, ‘Oh, by the way, was I meant to tell you what to do with that money?’” The representative said no, assuring her that, because she was in the ‘default’ option, it was taken care of.
“And I said ‘Option’? Does that mean there are other options?’” Dr King recalls.
“He looked at me and rolled his eyes and said, ‘Oh look, there is this one “greenie” option for people who have a problem investing in mining, alcohol or tobacco’.” Dr King was shocked into silence. “Then I asked him, ‘Are you telling me that I’m currently investing in tobacco?’
“He just said, ‘Everyone is’. I said, ‘You do realise you’re standing in the biggest cancer centre in the Southern Hemisphere and this hospital is filled with people who are suffering as a result of tobacco?’”
TURNING POINT
Dr King was horrified by the idea that medical professionals, who were working tirelessly to help cancer patients, could be at the same time unknowingly investing in the companies “that made the products that were killing them”.
“It just made no sense,” she says. “I thought, ‘I cannot let that go, I just can’t.’ It was a big moment for me and – in the end – one that totally changed my life.” After the meeting, Dr King investigated the issue further. The more she learned, the more fired up she became to change the system.
Thus, in 2010 Dr King launched Tobacco Free Portfolios, a not-for-profit organisation whose aim is encouraging tobacco-free finance. Following its establishment, Dr King’s fund was the first superannuation fund to announce it would no longer support tobacco companies. Nowadays, Tobacco Free Portfolios has enlisted 45 of Australia’s biggest pension funds to go tobacco-free, controlling a combined total of A$1.5 trillion of Australians’ money.
In 2016, Tobacco Free Portfolios branched out globally and has since had an impact in 22 countries. It now also works with banks, insurance companies and other parts of the finance sector to implore them to sign a Tobacco-Free Finance Pledge, which states they will reconsider investing in, lending to and insuring tobacco companies.
In 2018, this initiative was launched at the United Nations in New York, and Dr King is proud to report there are now 129 signatories, with combined assets of US$8.25 trillion worldwide. While her achievements are impressive, Dr King is no stranger to hard work. Growing up, she was an elite swimmer who represented Australia at a junior level. Then, once she set her sights on becoming a doctor, she poured all her focus into her studies.
Upon graduating, she worked as a doctor for the Australian swimming team for a decade, before becoming a radiation oncologist.
RESILIENT MINDSET
Dr King credits those formative experiences in competitive swimming with giving her the mindset needed to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Watching swimmers smash world records in the pool, for instance, helped quash her own limiting beliefs.
“When I feel like I’m up against a particularly challenging moment with Tobacco Free Portfolios, I think, ‘It’s got to be possible; I’ve just got to think of another way’.”
While Dr King is happy with what Tobacco Free Portfolios has achieved, she intends to scale further, aiming to reach US$10 trillion in tobacco-free finance by September.
“The aim is to celebrate that on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly this year,” she says. Beyond that, she hopes to make her goal of making tobacco-free finance ‘the new norm’.
When she’s not working on such goals, Dr King also keeps her foot in the door as a radiation oncologist, and acts as an ambassador on philanthropic projects including the Big Brothers Big Sisters Australia mentorship program. In 2019 she received an Order of Australia for her work.
While she’s “humbled” by her achievements, Dr King doesn’t sit back and bask in them. “There’s so much more I want to do.”