The High Court rules New Zealand’s sovereign wealth fund is making unlawful investments, flouting human rights – like Australia’s Future Fund. Cathy Peters reports.
Last week, the New Zealand High Court made a landmark ruling in relation to the country’s $86B sovereign wealth fund, New Zealand Superannuation. It found that the policies of NZ Superfund were ‘unreasonable and unlawful’ and failed to properly address human rights issues.
It also determined that the fund’s Guardians have a duty to reformulate policy documents relating to ethical investment exclusions and human rights.
Australia’s Future Fund could face a similar challenge
given its current investment policy and investments.
Australia’s Future Fund Board of Guardians oversees the investment of $335.3B, comprising Australia’s sovereign wealth fund and six other public asset funds. Its policies on ethical investments are limited and vague, and have yet to be tested in a court of law.
Future Fund ducks for cover over war crimes investment in Elbit
NZ Superfund’s actions exposed
The NZ ruling came after years of advocacy by the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA), which pressured the Fund to divest from Israel’s largest weapons company, Elbit, in 2012, and more recently in 2021, when the Fund excluded five Israeli banks from its portfolio due to their role in financing Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.
After adding five Israeli banks to its investment exclusion list in 2021, the NZ Fund in 2022 altered its human rights divestment policy and created a new exclusions policy that had no direct references to internationally recognised human rights standards and benchmarks such as the UN Global Compact, which it had previously cited.
John Minto, Co-Chair of PSNA believes that this action was result of intense lobbying from the Israel lobby as there were a large number of Official Information Act (OIA) requests from the Israel Institute of New Zealand following the Fund’s action on the Israeli banks, “The pro-Israel lobby uses intrusive OIA requests to harass and bully organisations taking action to hold Israel to account for war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
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Was there an external input Demanding the @NZSuperFund make the changes?To benefit zionist israel. . . pic.twitter.com/aefegSBKJd
— Letters For Palestine (@LettersForPale1) April 21, 2026
Minto and two others took the recent legal action due to the Fund’s continuing investments in four companies operating in the Israeli settlements and the fact that the Fund’s amended exclusions policy was now in breach of its legislative requirements, stating:
“This is beyond outrageous. Our largest sovereign wealth fund, owned by the government on behalf of the people of New Zealand,
has no specific references to human rights standards in its investment exclusions policy.
The Court’s decision was clear that the Fund’s amended policies failed to meet basic requirements of the New Zealand Superannuation and Retirement Income Act in relation to exclusions from the fund for alleged breach of human rights standards.
It cited its failure to divest from its investments in Israeli companies which the UN has listed as complicit in the Israeli occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) deemed to be illegal under international law. The companies listed are on the UN database – Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia and Motorola.
“This is an important and timely win for Palestine”, says Minto.”We are certain if the Superfund now does its job properly, it will quickly divest from the four companies it holds investments in.”
Future Fund under scrutiny
Even though Australia’s Future Fund Board has adopted a new ‘Responsible Investment Belief’ and a new Responsible Investment Policy, the Periodic Investment Report of Dec 31, 2025 lists investments in the following Israeli banks and companies which are on the UN database – Bank Hapoalim, Bank Leumi Le-Israel B.M, Israel Discount Bank Ltd, Booking Holdings, Inc., Expedia Group, Inc. as well as weapons companies, Elbit Systems Ltd, BAE Systems PLc and DroneShield Ltd.
The Fund operates under the Future Fund Act of 2006 and the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 which requires ‘international best practice for institutional investment’ as well as ‘proper use and management of public resources for which the authority is responsible’ with ‘proper’ meaning ‘efficient, effective, economical and ethical’ when used in relation to the use or management of public resources.
The Future Fund’s Responsible Investment Policy states that the ‘Exclusion categories are defined by the economic activities that are banned by the treaties and conventions that have been ratified by the Government’.
Australia has ratified the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols, wherein the illegality of Israel’s settlements and any economic support for them is clear, as is investing in weapons companies whose products have been used in the Gaza genocide, given we are also signatories to the Genocide Convention.
Ignoring war crimes risk
In July 2024, Foreign Minister Wong announced sanctions on a number of Israeli settlers and reiterated the Australian Government’s position that the Israeli settlements in the West Bank are illegal under international law. In November 2024, the government confirmed this position by voting in favour of the UN Resolution ‘Israeli practices and settlement activities affecting the rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the occupied territories – (A/C.4/79/L.16)’.
While the Future Fund’s Exclusions approach aims to ‘ensure alignment with Australia’s international obligations’, it only references labour rights, Modern Slavery and ‘controversial’ weapons as the human rights aligned areas in its exclusions, as well as primary tobacco production, which was a decision made by the Board and is not referenced anywhere in its policies.
Last year, MWM identified the risks the Future Fund and other Australian superannuation funds are taking by continuing to invest in weapons companies that are supplying Israel in its commission of genocide in Gaza.
Supporting genocide. Australian funds risk breaking international law.
Human rights concerns ignored
The only specific mention of human rights in the Future Fund’s policy documents occurs in the Fund’s Audit and Risk Committee notes on responsible investment risks and opportunities. Human rights are listed, but with no benchmarks or references to international best practice, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), which set out global standards for preventing and addressing human rights risks in business operations.
According to the UNGP obligations, the Future Fund has human rights obligations to protect against human rights abuses, including within its investment activities and as a major investor
to identify, prevent, and mitigate adverse human rights impacts linked to its investments.
In March 2026, the UN Human Rights Council was unequivocal in its findings and directives in relation to Israeli settlements. It included a call that ‘business enterprises take all measures necessary to comply with their responsibilities under the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights’ and to ‘cease contributing to the establishment, maintenance, development or consolidation of Israeli settlements or the exploitation of the natural resources of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.’
A Future Fund spokesperson provided this response to MWM questions regarding the Fund’s continuing investments in companies and banks operating in Israeli settlements and arms companies:
“The Future Fund Board of Guardians (‘Board’) invests in accordance with the Future Fund Act and Australian law, supported by long-standing exclusion, sanctions and due diligence frameworks. Portfolio exclusions are based on controversial weapons-related Conventions or Treaties ratified by Australia, as well as manufacturers of complete tobacco products. The Board monitors sanctions regimes across multiple jurisdictions and requires investment managers to comply with applicable local sanctions. The Board continues to monitor local and international developments in approaches to institutional investment in this area.”
New Future Fund chairman Greg Combet ducks for cover on Elbit war crimes investment
Cathy Peters is a former ABC RN producer/executive producer and Greens councillor on the former Marrickville Council. She also worked for a state Greens MP and is a long-time advocate for Palestinian rights. In 2014, she co-founded PSNA / BDS Australia. She has Jewish heritage, has travelled and volunteered in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.