Australian Greens Want End to Future Fund Owning Tobacco Shares

The Australian Greens, who helped Prime Minister Julia Gillard win power, want the government’s Future Fund investment program changed to prevent the holding of tobacco company shares.

“It makes no sense for a Federal Government fund to be investing in a way which is so clearly at odds with current health policy,” Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said in an e- mailed statement. “This revelation should provide us with an opportunity to re-visit the Fund and see what we can do to improve this investment strategy.”

The Future Fund, established five years ago to cover the pension costs of retiring lawmakers, judges and public servants, had A$147.7 million ($148 million) invested in 14 tobacco companies as of Dec. 31, according to portfolio holdings obtained by Bloomberg News through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The investments are held as Australia introduces some of the toughest anti-smoking laws in the world, including becoming the first nation to ban brand names on tobacco packs. In addition to raising the excise on tobacco by 25 percent last year, the government banned the public display of cigarettes in stores.

Australia, where sales of tobacco products totaled A$10.9 billion in 2009, records about 15,000 deaths a year from related diseases, according to government statistics. Smoking is the largest preventable cause of death, according to the Australian Medical Association.

Health Care

Nicola Roxon, health minister in Gillard’s Labor government, last month said smoking cost Australia’s A$1.3 trillion economy about A$31.5 billion each year in health care and lost time due to illness.

“My personal view is no one should invest in tobacco companies,” Roxon told the Herald Sun newspaper. “No one should invest in products that are such dreadful killers.”