Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to express my great concern with respect to the Labor government's intrusion into the investment decisions of the Future Fund, and, in doing so, I associate myself with the remarks of two previous chairs of the Australian Future Fund, David Murray and Peter Costello. Last week, the Labor government introduced an investment mandate that sought to interfere with the investment decisions of the Australian Future Fund. Why is this important? The Australian Future Fund currently has $229 billion under management. Those funds have been quarantined to assist to meet the unfunded superannuation liabilities of Australian public servants, which, at 30 June 2028, will equate to $332 billion. Even on the basis of current investment returns, the current size of the fund is not sufficient to cover those unfunded public servant superannuation liabilities, but the Labor government can't help itself. It's interfering with the fund, dictating to the fund how it should make investment decisions.

Secondly, it's acting in a way inconsistent with the Future Fund Act, which specifically says that the responsible ministers must not give a direction under section 18(1) of the act which has the effect directly or indirectly of requiring the board to make particular investments. So the investment mandate issued last week is in direct contravention of section 18A of the Future Fund Act, and yet the board of guardians, under their current leadership, are standing by and acquiescing. It's an absolute disgrace.