HESTA passes one million members

Staying on-track with its three-year growth strategy, industry super fund HESTA has welcomed its one-millionth member.

The $70 billion fund said this was an “important milestone”, with increased scale helping HESTA deliver positive outcomes for members.

“Our members are at the heart of everything we do, so it’s an enormous privilege to head into 2023 with one million Australians who trust HESTA to look after their hard-earned retirement savings,” said Debby Blakey, HESTA CEO.

“Being one million strong means our members can collectively have an amazing impact through their super. 

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“They know we’re a trusted partner supporting them to face the future with confidence, that we’ll be a gutsy advocate for a fairer, healthier community and we’ll deliver investment excellence with impact, accelerating progress towards a more sustainable world.”

Last year, the merger between HESTA and Mercy Super resulted in 13,000 Mercy Super members and their assets moving to HESTA.

Blakey added, “It’s fantastic the team was able to deliver a smooth merger in just eight months and we’re continuing to look for other opportunities to build on this strong growth track record.”.

Since it was established in 1987, HESTA has become the largest super fund dedicated to Australia’s health and community services sector.

 It was created before the introduction of the national Super Guarantee with an initial focus on predominately female workforces in health and community services and 80% of members were women.

“Our members are mainly women working part-time or casually in often lower-paid sectors such as aged care or early childhood education,” Blakey noted.

“Many miss out on the full benefits of super because they take unpaid time out of the workforce to care for others.

“Core to our purpose is our super with impact approach and the incredible growth we’re seeing across the fund shows this strategy is resonating with more and more Australians.”

As part of this mission, HESTA launched Future Planner, an online tool to help project retirement income, access an online library of guides created by HESTA advisers, and create a financial plan. Over 150,000 HESTA members have used Future Planner since it was launched in 2021.  

Additionally, in its pre-Budget submission, HESTA reiterated its support for paying super on Commonwealth Paid Parental Leave (PPL), along with introducing a carer’s credit for unpaid parental leave and improving equity in the distribution of super tax concessions, to address inequities in the super system that disproportionately affect women.