Human rights complaints filed against 20 super funds

Super fund members have joined the traditional owners of three First Nations across Australia to commence legal action against superannuation funds investing in Santos and its Barossa and Narrabri gas projects.

Australia’s top 20 super funds, including AustralianSuper, Hostplus, HESTA, UniSuper, Cbus, and Australian Retirement Trust, were named in the human rights complaint. These 20 funds collectively managed over $1.7 trillion of members’ retirement savings.

Lodged by Equity Generation Lawyers with assistance from Market Forces, the complaint outlined that, under international human rights standards, investors, including super funds, had an obligation to prevent adverse human rights impacts of companies in which they are invested.

The action would follow human rights complaints lodged in early April against 12 Australian and international banks, including Westpac and NAB, for their involvement in a $1.5 billion loan to Santos for its Barossa offshore gas project.

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“This is a message to superannuation funds from the Tiwi people. Santos is reckless and unsafe in their operations,” stated Antonia Burke, Indigenous human rights advocate from the Tiwi Islands.

“Their projects are unsafe for the environment, Indigenous traditional owners and residents, the people that work for them and landowners. There is so much evidence to prove Santos’ inability to mitigate risks to the environment; they have a trail of destruction across this entire country.”

Per the complaint, Santos’ projects risked damage to sacred sites, the environment, and the livelihoods of traditional owners. Additionally, the Barossa and Narrabri projects risked spills, pipeline eruptions, and devastating impacts on the local environment.

Miah Wright, Gomeroi/Gamilaraay traditional owner, highlighted that the majority of cultural heritage sites were within 200 meters of a waterway that would be adversely affected by pollutants.

“Water — ‘Gali’, is the source of all life. It is Yinarr/Warringa (women) Lore to hold a spiritual connection with all water,” she explained.

“If Santos gets its way with the Narrabri gas project, enabled by investments from Australia’s super funds, they will pollute our sacred water that sustains all life.”

Per the legal letter, funds were expected to explain their actions with regard to investments in Santos and take action to remedy deficiencies in accordance with international human rights principles and fiduciary obligations to act in the best financial interests of members.

They were urged to collaborate to increase their leverage in actively engaging with such companies and to work with governments and regulators to prevent human rights abuses. If such attempts failed, they were urged to consider divesting from such projects.

Super funds were expected to respond by 26 May 2023. 

Last week, Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) announced that Australia’s 15 largest super funds were investing at least $25 billion in fossil fuel investments. 

The fund with the most invested in new fossil fuels, by a big margin, was AustralianSuper at $9.89 billion.

This was followed by UniSuper ($3.1 billion), HESTA ($2.86 billion), and Australian Retirement Trust ($2.77 billion).

Other funds with massive investments in such projects included Cbus ($2.14 billion), Hostplus ($2.11 billion), and Aware Super ($0.63 billion).