Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. In question time yesterday, in answer to a question from the member for Gorton, the Prime Minister said he had no choice over his investments in 7-Eleven, because he invests through managed funds. But when the Prime Minister's investments in big tobacco came to light last year he promised to divest himself of those holdings, despite the fact that they were invested through managed funds. Will the Prime Minister now undertake to divest himself of the investment in 7-Eleven, given its connection to worker exploitation?

Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The approach that my investment adviser takes is that, where managed funds have a material interest in a tobacco company, she does not invest our funds in them. However, because tobacco companies are part of the index of many stock exchanges—including Japan and, of course, the London and New York stock exchanges—any fund that has an investment in the index will inevitably have an investment, generally a small one, in a tobacco company.

A very large number of members opposite have investments in superannuation in Australian super. Australian super has a broad range of foreign shares including tobacco stocks and, I might say, including the holding company of 7-Eleven.