The government has directed the future fund to invest in housing, green energy and cyber security infrastructure where it's profitable. The new mandate is the biggest change in the history of the fund which is now worth nearly a quarter-of-a-trillion dollars.
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TVTranscript
00:00The Future Fund was born 18 years ago.
00:07Money stashed away for investment with its earnings to pay for unfunded super liabilities.
00:13I expect that it will invest in things like equities, bonds.
00:19Today, the Treasurer tinkered with the Fund's mandate.
00:23So it will consider areas of national interest when deciding what to invest its $230 billion in.
00:31Increasing the supply of residential housing, supporting the energy transition and delivering improved infrastructure.
00:38The Government at pains to say these are secondary considerations and won't affect its earnings.
00:45There are no changes being proposed here to the existing benchmark rate of return or the risk profile.
00:51But the Opposition is suspicious of the changes.
00:55It's not there to invest in their pet projects, to invest in whatever they think is necessary to deal with their economic failures.
01:04The Fund's father and recently departed Chair was scathing, saying it would undermine its independence and earnings.
01:12And that when Governments direct savings to particular areas, they usually end in political decisions that lose money.
01:19The Future Fund is already investing in some of these areas.
01:22Well if that is the case, why do we need a change in the investment mandate?
01:26In its nearly three years in office, Labor has sought to reshape the Reserve Bank, the Productivity Commission and now the Future Fund.
01:34Taking the chance to pull the levers of power while it can, in case it ends up on the Opposition benches after the next election.