Stewardship Statement

We’re  proud to be a signatory to the Australian Asset Owner Stewardship Code (the Code), which was coordinated by the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI), of which we are a founding member. The Code provides guiding principles designed to improve the quality and transparency of stewardship activities. This statement is based on the 2018 version of the Code, which is applicable until 1 July 2024, and reflects practices during the 2024 financial year.

Principle 1: How we approach effective stewardship

Good stewardship is an integral part of our investment philosophy and approach.

Our Responsible Investing, Proxy Voting and our Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability policies explain how we approach our stewardship responsibilities. You can access these policies at Policy documents.

Principle 2: How we vote to protect members' interests

Executing the voting rights attached to investments we hold on behalf of members is an integral part of active ownership. Exercising voting rights at listed company meetings is an important part of our stewardship responsibilities, as it provides an opportunity to express our views on director elections, executive pay, and other important matters.

CareSuper’s policy is to vote all shares where possible and in a manner that is consistent with our investment philosophy. We aim to ensure that all voting decisions incorporate good ESG practices and support our engagement activities. In doing so, we take into account the views of independent proxy advisers and our investment managers but reserve the right to instruct the final voting direction in the best interest of our members.

You can learn more about how we vote in our Proxy Voting Policy and view our share voting records on our website at How we vote.

Principle 3: How we engage with companies

We engage with the companies we invest in via our investment managers and through our membership with the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI), which provides an ongoing program of engagement with Australian companies.

For more information on engagement through our partnership with ACSI see:

• ACSI Engagement reports
• ACSI annual reports

A full list of the organisations we collaborate with on engagement and other stewardship activities is available at Responsible investing.

Principle 4: How we monitor our investment managers

We have a publicly available Responsible Investing Policy, which provides an overview of how we assess the ESG integration and stewardship practices of our external investment managers.

We assess how potential new investment managers manage ESG issues and undertake stewardship activities during our appointment process. We also send questionnaires to existing external managers to assess how they manage ESG issues and undertake stewardship activities.

Principle 5: How we approach financial system advocacy

It’s important that the operation of the financial system and its regulatory policies be aligned with achieving the best long-term investment outcomes for members. We support this alignment through submissions to government and regulators via collaborative initiatives, by contributing to research and supporting various industry campaigns.

Past advocacy activities include:

• Collaboration with Women in Super to help close the gender super gap by supporting their various campaigns and policy stance.
• Supporting various submissions that ACSI has made on behalf of its members. You can access a full list of ACSI's submissions here.

Principle 6: How we report to members

We provide a number of resources reporting on our stewardship activities including:

• Making our various stewardship-related policies publicly available at Policy documents
• Publicly reporting on our stewardship activities in various sections of our website and in our Annual Report
• Publishing our proxy voting record
• Participating in the annual PRI reporting framework. Access a copy of this report from Responsible investing