Rumours abounded earlier this year that some industry funds may have ‘unwittingly’ invested in weapons traded to Saudi Arabia, with Rollover noting that more than one fund probably wished it had spent the money on war bunkers instead, if only to hide from the rumours.
While some (admittedly modest) public outrage initially followed the news however, by the time Hostplus admitted to its investment in weapons supplier Electro Optic Systems, through its investment manager IFM Investors, nobody was paying much attention.
This was despite public polling finding that 60 per cent of Australians would consider ditching their super fund should it engage in arms trading with Saudi Arabia, and 63 per cent saying they were uncomfortable with their funds making such investments.
This may be a case where member disengagement has actually saved Hostplus a portion of its membership – theoretically, as much as 60 per cent.
To Rollover, it seems that members were just engaged enough to care if their super fund benefited from arms deals with alleged war criminals, but not quite enough to bother finding out if their fund had actually made such investments.
Is this a case of no big bang query?
