22 October 2025
Explore how we aim to support long-term value creation in our investments in Australian listed companies through our stewardship activities.
Stewardship is defined as the use of investor rights with the goal of protecting and enhancing long-term value.
We invest across the global economy on behalf of millions of AustralianSuper members. Our investments are spread across multiple asset classes, public and private markets, geographic regions and investment structures. As at 30 June 2025, we have close to $100 billion invested in Australian listed companies. This represents 26% of the Fund’s total investment portfolio and 2.6% of the total market value of all listed companies on the ASX. Around $93 billion is managed internally, making AustralianSuper the largest active equity manager in the Australian market.
We have a responsibility to members to invest in a way that maximises investment returns over the long term. When we invest in an asset we may gain certain ownership rights, which vary based on the characteristics of our investment. For Australian listed companies, these rights are bound by the Corporations Act 2001 and the ASX listing rules and vary depending on our ownership stake. We may be able to use our ownership rights to encourage companies to improve their performance on issues that we believe can impact long-term value for members.
Our stewardship objectives
Our approach to stewardship involves using our ownership rights to seek effective management of issues that we believe can impact investment value. Our ability to influence at an individual company level is a function of our ownership stake, ownership rights and characteristics of the investment. For example, our large, direct ownership stakes in certain ASX listed companies provides us with opportunities to engage directly with board members to understand and advocate for the effective management of issues.
For Australian listed companies with respect to ESG issues, we focus on:
- Communicating our investment interests to companies regarding the effective management of ESG issues which can impact members’ returns.
- Understanding the company’s approach to managing ESG issues.
- Using our voting rights with regards to director elections and remuneration plans, and the assessment of resolutions put forward by shareholders.
Our stewardship activities
Our stewardship program for Australian listed companies includes three types of activities: engagement, voting and class actions. These activities will vary based on the characteristics of our investment, including whether we’re investing directly or through external managers, or whether our investment is actively or passively held.
Engagement
Direct: Direct ownership can enable us to conduct deeper, more specific engagement with company boards on ESG topics. As a long-term investor, the companies we invest in are often interested in our views. Our direct engagement process for our fundamental portfolios, which are the portfolios that are actively managed by the Australian Equities team, encompasses three key perspectives:
- Relationship building: helping companies understand the importance of ESG factors on an ongoing basis.
- Themes-based engagement: focusing on ESG themes that our ESG program has identified as a priority.
- Company specific issues engagement: raising specific ESG concerns or engaging on a particular voting matter.
Indirect: We utilise service providers to engage with listed companies using the collective voice of their members. For Australian listed companies, we use the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI).
Industry associations and investor networks: Working with other investors and industry groups helps give us insights and broader influence on ESG issues. We seek to join initiatives where the area of focus is a material investment risk, and engagement topics are investment oriented. Examples of investor networks are Climate Action 100+ and Investors Against Slavery and Trafficking Asia Pacific.
Voting
We make voting decisions with the aim of producing outcomes that support investment value for members.
A company resolution is a formal proposal by a company’s board of directors and presented to shareholders for a vote at a general meeting—typically the Annual General Meeting (AGM). These resolutions are binding and relate to core governance and other matters such as director elections, executive remuneration plans, capital structure changes, mergers and acquisitions and constitutional amendments.
A shareholder resolution is proposed by shareholders to express views or request changes, often on ESG issues such as a company’s environmental impacts, workforce/labour practices, shareholder rights, or requesting further disclosure regarding such topics. Shareholder resolutions are usually non-binding, serving as advisory votes to signal investor sentiment.
We consider resolutions on their merits through the members’ best financial interest lens.
UNDERSTAND OUR VOTING APPROACH
Class actions
AustralianSuper uses class actions in members’ best financial interests as a:
- last resort stewardship activity
- cost-effective way to recover member losses caused by a company’s conduct or market disclosures; and
- mechanism to improve standards of company practice in the market.
Case Study: Governance for ASX listed companies
What is it?
Governance refers to the systems, structures, and practices that guide how companies are directed and controlled. The Fund may consider governance issues such as board composition, executive pay, shareholder rights, risk oversight, disclosure and transparency.
We seek to ensure these governance factors are assessed during investment decision-making and monitored through stewardship activities during ownership such as voting and engagement.
What have we done?
Governance was the top theme among our engagements in FY25, with both board effectiveness and remuneration featuring in 68% of our direct engagements with companies. Board effectiveness is important to investment value as the Board represents shareholders and oversees management’s running of the business, while remuneration is an important lever that Boards use to (a) drive execution of company strategy and (b) align the interests of management with shareholders.
- We held 91 direct engagements on remuneration and 90 on board effectiveness.
- We voted on 213 ASX remuneration report resolutions, voting against 23. Of the 23 we voted against, 12 resulted in a strike. A strike occurs when the annual remuneration report resolution at a company’s Annual General Meeting receives an ‘against’ shareholder vote of 25% or higher. Two consecutive strikes can lead to the potential for a board spill.
- There were 36 ASX remuneration report strikes in FY25.
The increase in strikes this year largely reflected investor concerns with:
- excessive payments relative to performance;
- a shift away from remuneration structures focusing on long-term performance measures; and/or
- poor occupational health & safety performance.
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