Jim Chalmers MP, Treasurer of Australia
The nation’s largest superannuation funds, major banks and global asset managers will be brought together by the federal government to address affordable housing.
The Investor Roundtable will bring together investment executives to identify and solve investment impediments.
“There is a massive opportunity in promoting greater investment in sectors that deliver both strong returns for investors and strong returns for our community,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said.
“Some of Australia’s largest investors are represented at the Roundtable, with more than $2 trillion under management by the superannuation funds and institutional investors alone.”
The first Roundtable will take place in November and will address social and affordable housing, Chalmers said. The conversation will touch on a variety of issues, including barriers to investment in housing, improving revenue streams and confidence in the project pipeline and identify opportunities for government co-investment.
Because each sector has distinct challenges, each roundtable will focus on a different investment class of national relevance.
Future roundtables will look at issues such as data and digitalisation, as well as sustainable energy.
The roundtables will feature 20 core participants as well as additional attendees with expertise in each emphasis area.
The big four banks CEO’s will be on the roundtable, alongside Wayne Swan from CBUS Super, Andrew Landman from Blackrock and Andrew Fraser from Australian Retirement Trust.
It comes after the Albanese government turned to super funds to help address the social housing shortfall at the recent Jobs and Skills Summit.
One of the key outcomes of the Jobs and Skills summit was the widening of the National Housing Infrastructure Facility remit to make $575 million available to invest in social and affordable housing.
The government made sure to specifically point out the superannuation funds at the summit.
“The funding can be used to partner with other tiers of government and social housing providers, and to attract private capital including from superannuation funds,” the Jobs and Skills Summit Outcomes document said.
Dr Martin Fahy, CEO, Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia welcomed the announcement.
“There are key challenges for governments and economies in the global environment and a constructive dialogue with Government is important to determine the policy measures needed to create more productive investment opportunities across the Australian economy,” she said.
“The obligation for superannuation funds to act in the best interest of their members is paramount and there are always opportunities to invest in assets that provide strong long-term returns to superannuation fund members as well as lifting productivity across the economy.
“Superannuation fund trustees assess potential investments in terms of risk-adjusted returns. Identifying models for investment which work economically, both for the government and for fund members, will be key.”