Meet Gerry
When Gerry went along to a HESTA information session earlier this year, he didn’t expect it to have such a big impact on his plans for retirement.
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Tobacco use is a leading cause of disease and death globally, a fact many HESTA members confront daily in caring for our community. This is one of the reasons we’re proud to have excluded companies that produce cigarettes and tobacco products from our own investment portfolios since 2013.
And now we’re urging other investors to follow suit — for the health of our community and of your super — by signing a world-first Investor Statement on Tobacco.
“Many of our members work in hospitals and health settings across Australia, where tobacco-related illness clearly increases pressure on service availability and to the health system overall,” HESTA CEO Debby Blakey points out.
“As the national fund dedicated to health and community services, it’s vitally important that we raise awareness of this issue.”
It’s vitally important we raise awareness of this issue.
We’re leading by example
“We’re committed to responsibly investing our members’ super savings by being a careful long-term steward of their investments,” Debby confirms. “By excluding tobacco and signing the investor statement we aim to make a positive impact on the world our members will retire into.”
Released to mark World No Tobacco Day on 31 May, the statement is supported by the United Nations-backed organisation Principles for Responsible Investment — a global leader in their field.
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