These funds acquire enormous clout from members’ compulsory contributions, the management of which earns the Left billions of dollars annually in fees to both enrich themselves personally and fund their socialist objectives.

Practicably-speaking, members are deprived of any say as to how their contributions are invested or spent, and if their respective funds perform poorly over the period, they will later be placed in penury post retirement. 

In fact, Australia’s retirement edifice is predicated upon the populace’s compulsory superannuation contributions deriving a decent return over time from ASX companies, and public servants are similarly placed. Our nation’s future, however, is now in grave danger.

WRECKING

What has happened is that these funds are buying lots of shares in listed companies, prior to using their voting power to dictate how a public company should be run, and what policies it must follow.

Their advocates habitually have no idea of running a profitable business, so are on song to bring us all down by wrecking corporate Australia. The Government depends on tax revenues to provide our social security safety net, which these activists have begun to threaten.

Companies can’t provide jobs and pay tax if they don’t make a profit, so how are future governments going to be able to pay aged pensions and fund hospitals and schools without money, or alternately, from which lender could they borrow!

The modus operandi used by the activists to place us in this predicament needs to be understood and eradicated. Whilst the Left lacks financial literacy, its agenda to put Australia into eventual insolvency brilliantly exploits corporate Australia’s weaker brethren. 

Listed entities appoint independent non-executive directors (NEDs) to their boards, whose stated role is to safeguard shareholders’ interests.

Sometimes NEDs fulfil their role, and can also espouse public interest policies such as ethical behaviour and “do no harm”, including to the environment, which is meritorious, but what happens in practice is often quite different.

Many NEDs become addicted to their director’s fees and resultant increases, and rubber stamp poor corporate governance and performance to enable their re-nominations to be supported by boards at the ends of their respective terms, though that problem has been partly ameliorated by shareholder activism shaking up poor performing boards, and naming and shaming.

Here’s where the hard Left enter the fray!

They target and lean on weak NEDs to rollover to support their green agenda, which is almost always bereft of environmental merit.

CAPITULATION

Weak CEOs, chairmen and NEDs, who unashamedly betray their shareholders in these regards, are a disgusting sight to see at AGMs. If any thought was applied to their pathetic capitulation to Left, they would realise what they’re agreeing to is wrong, and a fiduciary breach of trust.

The hard Left have targeted the banks, who provide critical lines of credit to expanding businesses to employ more people and pay more tax.

The ANZ recently refused to fund Newcastle Port’s lucrative expansion, whilst pretending to pursue high moral ground when withdrawing support for the coal export and fossil fuels industry. Of course, shareholder and bank earnings suffer from this confected fake outrage.

Coal exports only comprises part of that port’s activities, and were Australia to stop using coal tomorrow there’d be no functional power, most business would fail, hospitals could not provide critical care, and we’d all fall in a heap.

Another bank stepped in to fill the lending breach, but will now likewise be targeted. 

Harvey Norman is one of Australia’s most successful retailers and has been paying dividends to self-funded retirees almost since it first publicly listed.

It employs thousands of people (who like their pay and working conditions), and is also a community benefactor. When Australian retail stagnated, Executive Chairman Gerry Harvey and CEO Katie Page opened a number of additional outlets in Europe and SE Asia, which have increased earnings, boosted dividends and resultant tax revenue, and reduced requisite pension outlays.

Instead of being lauded for her efforts Ms Page became an object of vilification, and a disgraceful attempt to remove her from the company’s board at its 2020 AGM on spurious grounds.

She is demonstrably a great CEO and driving force behind Harvey Norman, so must be wondering what she did wrong, which was nothing.

DYING

Corporate Australians like Gerry Harvey and Kerry Stokes, who will tell an interjecting greenie to sit down and shut up at an AGM, (and Stokes if necessary will have them ejected from a meeting) are worryingly becoming a dying breed.

Worse still, both are now in their 80s. The hard Left are also heavily targeting resource companies with increasing success. This will significantly damage Australia when they are successively driven out of business. 

How is this problem addressed? When the average superfund contributor finds out that he is being hit in the hip pocket and having his future threatened by the hard Left, he won’t want them managing his money. In the same way voters declined to opt for increased taxes and electricity prices at the last election.

Superannuation is now portable, so concerned employees can re-locate to a non-green fund, provided that they’re informed.

The Government could agree to the soundly performing Future Fund managing superannuation, so prompting an exodus of capital away from union influence.