Super Fund must stop investing our taxes in nuclear bombs

Green Media Release

February 9, 2007

A Green Party report released today shows that the Government’s New Zealand Super Fund is investing taxpayers’ money in nuclear weapons’ manufacture.

Greens’ Co-Leader and Economics’ Spokesperson Russel Norman says the report - Betting the Bank on the Bomb – reveals that Labour’s New Zealand Super Fund has invested millions of dollars in businesses that the Norway Pension Fund will not touch on ethical grounds.

The report compares the ethical investment choices of the Norway Pension Fund and the NZ Super Fund. The Norway fund is a very large and successful government-owned pension fund that operates an ethical investment policy.

“There are 12 companies that the NZ Super Fund invests in that Norway has blacklisted for ethical reasons. These reasons include:

- nuclear weapons manufacture;

- cluster bomb manufacture;

- environmental destruction;

- labour rights and human rights violations.

Among those 12 companies are investments of $9 million in Northrop Grumman Corp and $6.9 million in EADS (European Aeronautic Defence & Space Company) both of which are involved in nuclear weapons production, $15.8 million in Lockheed Martin Corp which manufactures cluster bombs and $17 million in Wal-Mart, which has a well-documented record of human rights and labour rights violations.

“Ethical investment offers one positive way that people and governments can influence the behaviour of corporations internationally. We have a responsibility to use our money wisely to support good companies and avoid bad ones.

“When we criticise the ethical investment choices of the NZ Super Fund, we are told they do it to make a good return. But the much larger Norway Pension Fund can make a high return on their investments while excluding nuclear bomb manufacturers, so why is the management of the NZ Super Fund unable to do the same?”

Report available on the Greens’ website - Greens.org.nz Report

ENDS

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