Media Release: Government funding weapons trade

From: Auckland Peace Action

Date: 22 August 2016

The Government’s own NZ Superannuation fund is heavily invested in major weapons dealers.# At present, it holds significant investments in the second, third and fourth largest arms dealers in the world: Boeing, BAE and Raytheon.*

“Prime Minister John Key has said that it is up to individual investors to find out where their money was going, and to decide if that’s an acceptable investment. But unlike Kiwisaver, ordinary working people in NZ don’t have any choice about where NZ Super invests our money even though we are paying for it,” said Auckland Peace Action member Valerie Morse

“It is totally abhorrent that our retirement fund is making money from war,” said Ms Morse.

“Our screens are filled with the horrors of war every day. We see children being killed by bombs and missile strikes across the Middle East. The very least we can do is to make sure that we are not contributing to this devastation.“

“It doesn’t take an investment specialist to know that investing in war is wrong and unethical. Weapons companies profit from war and misery.”

The NZ Super Fund currently has $27 million in investments in Boeing, $7.6 million in BAE, and $9.1 million in Raytheon. These are just three of many of the companies that NZ Super invests in that are involved in weapons production.

ENDS

#A full list of the companies can be found here: https://www.nzsuperfund.co.nz/publications/annual-equity-listings

*The list of world’s largest arms traders is available through the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute at

https://www.sipri.org/research/armament-and-disarmament/arms-transfers-and-military-spending/arms-production

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