Supporting the Australian economy

5 September 2024

As Australia’s largest superannuation fund, our investments make a significant contribution to Australia’s economic growth and prosperity. While our focus is on helping members achieve their best financial position in retirement, this can benefit the domestic economy, as well.

A large and active investor

With almost $170 billion invested domestically, AustralianSuper is committed to supporting the Australian economy. At this size and scale, we’re able to make a considerable impact on the industry and local market.

We’re a large active investor in the Australian share market, with more than $80 billion invested in Australian publicly listed equities. And $13 billion of that is invested in the critical minerals industry, which will play an essential role in leading Australia’s energy transition.

We’ve also invested nearly $30 billion in Australian real assets – infrastructure and property. These assets play a role in the everyday lives of Australians, contribute to communities and help generate long-term returns for members.

One of the fastest growing pension funds globally

Over the past five years, our investments in Australia have doubled. And by 2030, we forecast our investments in Australia could exceed $260 billion – which is equivalent to around 9% of the forecasted Australian GDP.¹

We’re now the 18th largest pension fund in the world and the fastest growing of the global top 20.² Our rapid growth means we’re always evaluating new investment opportunities with the potential to deliver long-term value for members. We’re focused on a range of key long-term investment themes, such as digitisation and the energy transition, that will shape the economy in the years ahead.

Significant retirement and tax payments benefit the economy

Our purpose is to help members achieve their best financial position in retirement. And delivering good retirement outcomes for members means more stimulus for the Australian economy. By 2030, we expect to pay members more than $30 billion in account-based pension payments. These payments to retired members are a spending injection into the Australian economy.

AustralianSuper is also consistently one of the top 10 Australian income taxpayers. The Fund paid more than $3.4 billion in taxes in Australia for the year ended 30 June 2024, and over $11.5 billion over the last five years.³ When we invest in Australian assets, we pay taxes on the income earned and AustralianSuper members get the benefit of any tax concessions.

Support for business and jobs

We support great businesses and have a long history of enabling quality Australian companies to grow. Since 2014, AustralianSuper has participated in over 300 equity raisings, providing more than $5.7 billion to Australian companies. We have committed an additional $2 billion to supporting emerging Australian companies through our local investments in venture capital funds and micro-cap companies. These investments allow members to access deals, particularly in private equity, which otherwise have high barriers to entry for individual investors. And our long-term investment approach supports the ongoing stability of financial markets and enables individual companies to build resilience.

We also make a significant, measurable contribution to the economy by supporting Australian jobs. As a large employer, we employ more than 1700 colleagues in Australia, across every major city. As one of the largest capital providers to major Australian businesses, we play a fundamental role in supporting job creation in our community. And we expect we’ll continue to make a substantial, positive impact on Australian jobs, businesses and the economy in the future. KPMG estimated that we will contribute more than $220 billion to Australia’s GDP over the next 30 years.⁴

Focused on the future

As we foster the long-term growth of members’ assets, our investments support the Australian economy. We leverage our size and scale, local knowledge and investment capabilities to help members achieve their best financial position in retirement.