Australia's Future Fund Faces Political Backlash Over Investment Decisions

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Sovereign Wealth Fund,Australia,Future Fund

Australia's Future Fund, a sovereign wealth fund worth $230 billion, is facing criticism from former government officials for investing in companies that Norway's sovereign wealth fund has excluded. The debate highlights the tension between the fund's stated independence and the political implications of its investment choices.

Australia's Future Fund invests in many companies that Norway's sovereign wealth fund has placed on its exclusion list.

And the notion that the Future Fund's "independence" is a politically neutral state of affairs is worth questioning too, because its investments have political consequences. Chalmers says the Future Fund has made it clear it can play a prominent role in capitalising on those economic opportunities and supporting Australia's prosperity.

The statement we're interested in is the declaration that the Future Fund's investments have never been politicised.More than $3 million of Australian taxpayers’ money has been invested in an Adani company funding a crucial rail link from the controversial Carmichael coal mine to a port on the Great Barrier Reef, the ABC can reveal.At the time, its exposure to securities issued by 14 entities involved in tobacco production totalled approximately $222 million.

That politicisation of tobacco products and the influence of the "environmental, social and governance" movement has clearly had a direct impact on the Future Fund's investment choices.the Future Fund had recently divested its stakes in a slew of Chinese companies that federal Liberal senator James Paterson had been raising concerns about.

 

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