This information is of a general nature. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or specific needs so you should look at your own financial position and requirements before making a decision. You may wish to consult an adviser when doing this.
Past performance is not an indicator of future performance. Product ratings and awards are only one factor to be considered when making a decision. This information is current as of 26 February 2026 and is subject to change. For up-to-date information go to hesta.com.au.
Nicola Roxon:
Good evening. My name's Nicola Roxon. I'm the Chair of HESTA. It's great to have you with us for HESTA's 2025 financial year Annual Member Meeting. A very warm welcome to everyone attending and those watching tonight. On behalf of both the HESTA Board and our Executive Team, I wish to begin by recognising the traditional custodians of the land on which we are meeting this evening, as well as those across the country who are tuning in.
Here in Melbourne, we're gathering on the lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. I offer my respects to their elders, past and present, and to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples joining us.
I'm delighted to welcome everyone joining us tonight. And our Directors, Executive Team, Auditor and Leadership Team are all here this evening.
Tonight, we'll share an overview of HESTA's results and the 2025 financial year priorities with you. You'll soon hear from our CEO, Debby Blakey, Sonya Sawtell-Rickson, our Chief Investment Officer, and Josh Parisotto, our Chief Engagement and Growth Officer.
You're welcome to submit questions in the chat at any time, and we'll address as many as we can after the presentations. If we can't get to your question tonight, we'll provide answers on our website within one month after the meeting.
For 38 years, HESTA has been proudly supporting members as a profit-to-member fund, working solely in the best interests of members. Guided by our purpose to invest in and for people who make our world better, we're dedicated to those working in the health and community services sector.
Today, we serve over a million members continuing this vision, helping them to grow their retirement savings. Despite a challenging investment environment, in this financial year, HESTA continues to deliver competitive returns. These investment returns help support a solid foundation for retirement, and it's fantastic to have this work recognised. We've received a Super Ratings Net Benefit award five times in the last six years, including at the Super Review’s Super Fund of the Year awards last November*. This award recognises HESTA as the Australian super fund with the best net benefit outcomes delivered to members over the short and long term.
It's a privilege to Chair HESTA, and I know that our other directors share that sentiment. In the 2025 financial year the Board has focused on overseeing the transition of our administration services, moving to a new member administration technology platform, our biggest ever tech project.
Transitioning to a new technology platform is intended to set us up to deliver a new, future focused service model that aims to create value for our members for many years to come. However, we do acknowledge that there have been some challenges and we apologise to members who experienced delays during our transition to the new administration provider. Since the transition, we've worked closely with our administration provider to seek to deliver the level of service our members expect and deserve, and we're committed to implementing any potential improvements identified so we can better support our members with more personalised services now and into the future.
Under the Board's oversight, we're committed to realising the innovation opportunities the new platform enables while upholding robust governance and risk standards. The Board is also focused on strengthening support for members in retirement and preparing for evolving regulatory expectations. From my perspective as Chair, strong governance underpins our results. It's about anticipating change and safeguarding our fund for the future.
So as HESTA has grown to manage more than $100 billion in members retirement savings, so too has our commitment to you.
We're continually evolving our governance to remain strong, and transparent and accountable. Super funds operate under strict and growing oversight from regulators, and we want our members to have full confidence their retirements and personal information are protected.
So HESTA is continually strengthening our governance, data, cyber security and risk frameworks.
Our growth brings exciting opportunities. Our three-year strategy for the 2026 to 2028 financial years set clear priorities to help us scale sustainably and continue delivering value to our members. Thank you for trusting HESTA with your financial future. It's an honour to serve you. As we look to the future, I'm delighted to hand over to Debby Blakey, the HESTA CEO, who with her team is central to driving our strategy forward.
Please join me in welcoming Debby.
* Product ratings and awards are only one factor to be considered when making a decision. See hesta.com.au/ratings for more information. The rating is issued by SuperRatings Pty Ltd ABN 95 100 192 283 (SuperRatings) a Corporate Authorised Representative (CAR No.1309956) of Lonsec Research Pty Ltd ABN 11 151 658 561, AFSL No. 421445. Ratings are general advice only and have been prepared without taking account of your objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider your personal circumstances, read the product disclosure statement and seek independent financial advice before investing. The rating is not a recommendation to purchase, sell or hold any product. Past performance information is not indicative of future performance. Ratings are subject to change without notice and SuperRatings assumes no obligation to update. SuperRatings use proprietary criteria to determine awards and ratings and may receive a fee for the use of its ratings and awards. Visit superratings.com.au for ratings information. © 2026 SuperRatings. All rights reserved.
Debby Blakey:
Thank you Nicola. And before I start tonight with my update, I'd like to express my sincere thanks to you, Nicola, and to the Board for your wise counsel, your committed oversight and unwavering support as we've navigated another year of progress, opportunities and challenge.
Good evening, members, and I want to take a moment to personally thank you for choosing HESTA. I'm so delighted for this opportunity to speak with you today and to answer your questions. Before I start, please do remember tonight's information is general in nature and doesn't consider your personal financial circumstances or goals.
During the 2025 financial year, our strategic focus has been on elevating our work as a top performing super fund. We want to deliver strong investment returns, personalised experiences and be a retirement partner you can rely on.
However, I do recognise it's been a challenging year for many members due to rising living costs, including the issues related to the supply of affordable housing across most of Australia. And your sectors: aged and community care, health and early childhood education and care continue to face significant pressure. Workforce shortages and increasing demand are stretching resources and impacting your critical work. We also recognise the uncertainty created by global events. And we are navigating this environment carefully to protect and to grow your super.
Earlier in 2025 you may have seen headlines dominated by tariffs and trade tensions. If you find yourself checking your super more often, you're not alone. A recent HESTA study found that 43% of surveyed members keep a closer eye on their super during periods of market volatility.
Around half checked their balance when the April US tariffs were announced. It's important to remember that super for most people is a decades long investment. At HESTA, we actively manage our members’ savings with well-diversified investments, which helps protect against peaks and troughs.
We understand volatility can feel uncomfortable, but it does draw attention to two things. Firstly, the importance of keeping a long-term perspective and secondly, having a skilled team to navigate these conditions.
Our investment team, led by Sonya Sawtell-Rickson, remains focused on capitalising on opportunities in these times. The reason I'm highlighting this is because we know our investment performance matters deeply to our members’ financial futures.
I'm pleased to now share that our MySuper Balanced Growth investment option returned 10.18% in the financial year to 30 June 2025 and 7.64% on average per annum over ten years for the same period*. And it's great to see this performance recognised with Balanced Growth ranked among SuperRatings top ten peer funds over the ten-year period.
* Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Returns are net of investment fees and costs, transaction costs and taxes. 10-year time periods are average annualised returns to 30 June 2025. Based on HESTA’s analysis of SuperRatings 10 Year Platinum Performance 2016-2026 (MySuper).
And when we look at the more current calendar year, January to December 2025 data, it gives us confidence that our investment approach is continuing to deliver for members, even in changing market conditions.
Our 2025 calendar year return for MySuper Balanced Growth was 9.42%, the third straight year of calendar year returns above 9% for Balanced Growth*.
Over the past decade, MySuper Balanced Growth exceeded its ten year investment objective, delivering an average annual return of 8.02% per annum for the ten year period to the end of December 2025*.
*Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Returns are net of investment fees and costs, transaction costs and taxes. 10-year time periods are average annualised returns to 31 December 2025.
But of course, investment performance ties directly into our broader strategy. And at HESTA, when we think about the future, we're focused on where we can have the biggest impact on your retirement outcomes. That mindset is what anchors what we call Super with impact™. The three pillars of Super with impact™ are supporting our members to face the future with confidence, being a gutsy advocate for a fair and healthy community and delivering investment excellence with impact. And in doing so, we serve your best financial interests and seek to positively influence the future.
We're focused on giving members great service through modern, secure, and future ready technology. During 2025, we transitioned our more than 1 million members to a new administration services provider, one of the most comprehensive tech projects undertaken by an Australian industry super fund.
Now, I want to acknowledge the patience and support you've shown as we've made this change. And I want to echo what Nicola said earlier and apologise to any member who didn't have the experience they should expect from us through this transition.
Our long-term focus remains on delivering more and better outcomes for our members, and this new platform is already providing significant data transparency that supports real time member updates and improved service integration. And we're looking so forward to the additional innovation opportunities this new platform will provide.
At HESTA, we know that transitioning to retirement can be financially and emotionally complex. Over the next five years, around 14% of HESTA members are expected to retire. And so using our scale, we will continue to evolve our whole of fund retirement approach. This means meeting members’ needs across their life journey using data, analytics and modeling to support members from preparation right into and through retirement. And we're leveraging technology to evolve our member support, including education and advice, so it's even more personalised and proactive.
Josh Parisotto, our Chief Engagement and Growth Officer will share more on how we're transforming member experiences.
Another way we work to transform member experiences is through our focus on being strong and gutsy advocates. Our advocacy aims to improve the fairness of the systems that impact the retirement outcomes of members.
We advocate for super related legislative and policy changes to help overcome what we see as drivers of disadvantage for some of our members. And because approximately 80% of our members are women and many of our members are lower income, we have a focus on issues that affect them. For example, after years of strong advocacy from HESTA and from our partners, we are thrilled that the Federal Government is making important changes to the low-income superannuation tax offset. The LISTO is designed to offset the tax on super contributions for eligible low-income workers, currently up to an income of $37,000, putting money back into their super. From July 2027, eligibility for the LISTO will change, meaning many more HESTA members may be eligible for LISTO. This will help over a million low-income Australians boost their retirement savings.
In addition to our strong advocacy, we're also committed to providing members the products they need for a modern retirement. We understand that everyone's next chapter looks a little different, and that's why we've made changes to our income stream products, which lets eligible members access a regular income from their super and provide them with tax free investment returns and the HESTA retirement reward, if eligible.
We've lowered the minimum balance required to start an income stream from $50,000 to $10,000, so that more members can access a tax effective income that fits their lifestyle and their goals.
The third pillar of Super with impact is delivering investment excellence with impact. How we aim to deliver strong long-term returns while contributing to a more sustainable world. This responsible investment approach means we incorporate the consideration of a breadth of financially material risks and opportunities, including environmental, social and governance risks and opportunities into our investment decision making.
Part of this is taking an active ownership approach, where HESTA seeks to actively engage with companies to understand and influence management of responsible investment factors that can impact long term returns delivered to members. Right now, we believe that there are three key areas that are critical to helping grow and protect our members’ retirement savings: climate change and natural capital, gender equality and decent work, and the emerging theme of global resilience.
It's critical that companies adapt to both global risks and emerging opportunities, driven by diverse factors such as geopolitical conflicts, economic shocks, cybersecurity threats, and technologies such as AI.
I want you to know that at HESTA, we don't take our responsibility lightly. And with $100 billion in members’ retirement savings, we have a unique and critical role. Not just here in Australia, but globally.
The coming decade will bring opportunities as Australia moves towards a low carbon future. For example, as of 30 June 2025, we have $6.4 billion invested in climate solutions such as renewable energy and sustainable property*. So HESTA is ready to help lead the way, leveraging our long term perspective and our responsible investment approach.
*As at 30 June 2025. Identification of opportunities has been based upon the Sustainable Development Investment Asset Owner Platform (SDI AOP) Taxonomy using alignment data from December 2024 Investments that are aligned to SDG 7, 11.6 and 13 have been included in the baseline. More information available at sdi-aop.org/sdi-classification. For further information on these objectives please refer to HESTA’s Climate Change statement: https://www.hesta.com.au/stories/climate-action.
With our scale, we're working to deliver even greater value and outcomes for our members. Every decision we make is with your best interests in mind and our strategic focus areas for the next three years are clear and ambitious, focused on three critical areas. Firstly, working to deliver exceptional experiences for members and supporting our members to face the future with confidence.
Secondly, continuing to deliver strong investment performance and continuing to evolve how we do that as the global environment changes. And thirdly, being your retirement fund of choice. Your future is at the heart of everything we do. And I thank you again for being a member, and I'm truly honoured to lead this journey with you.
We've had a small change to our agenda this evening as our Chair of the Investment Committee, Sue Dahn is unable to join us. I'll provide a brief update on our investment strategy and how we're investing to deliver on this vision and secure the best possible outcomes for you.
Throughout the year, the committee's focus included supporting the scaling up of internal investment management capability. They also oversaw the increasing quality and control of investment operations and addressed our strategic priorities. The growth in our internal investment management means that nearly one in every five member dollars at the end of the 2025 financial year was invested by HESTA colleagues, a significant achievement reflecting the dedication and collaboration across our Board, our management and external partners.
I am now delighted to hand over to our Chief Investment Officer, Sonya Sawtell-Rickson.
Sonya Sawtell-Rickson:
Thank you, Debby.
Despite the strong returns delivered, the 24/25 financial year wasn't all smooth sailing as geopolitics, technology and central banks took centre stage. In late 24 following the US elections, share markets pushed to historic highs, led by technology and broad enthusiasm about the president's pro-business agenda. However, in 2025, the Trump administration's significant tariff announcements triggered market volatility and led to drawdowns in share markets around the world.
Pleasingly, as probable tariff outcomes became clearer, we saw a repricing of risk and a strong recovery in share markets, leading to double digit returns in the Australian ASX 300, which gained 13.7%, and the US S&P 500, which was up 15.2% over the financial year.
Overall, global central bank activity was varied in the face of this uncertainty. Some central banks cautiously initiated interest rate cuts supporting the economy but reducing the return from cash investments. Other central banks held firm given inflation fears. These shifting expectations on interest rates caused bond yields to fluctuate.
Overall, HESTA delivered strong results with our MySuper Balanced Growth option returning 10.18%, outperforming its financial year and long-term objectives*. Importantly, HESTA has delivered solid investment performance over the long term, with Balanced Growth returning a strong 9.02% per annum over five years and 7.64% per annum over ten years*.
*Investments may go up or down. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. For the most current returns for all options visit hesta.com.au/members/investments. Returns are net of investment fees and costs, transaction costs and taxes and are rounded to 2 decimal places. 5- and 10-year returns are on an annualised basis and to 30 June 2025.
And a reminder that you can view the returns for all of our investment options on our website.
This cumulative long-term performance, year on year on year is what will make a difference to your retirement.
As we look forward, top of mind for the portfolio are the key investment thematics that will shape markets and drive performance. One of these, perhaps unsurprisingly, is digital disruption. As we know, artificial intelligence is here to stay and it will impact our investment portfolio as well as our internal investment processes. We are working closely with our leading global partners to identify and underwrite investment opportunities, as well as the emerging risks with this new technology.
We're also focused on the changing geopolitical landscape and the potential implications it may have for investment markets.
Looking to the future, we're hard at work to continue being a top performing fund working for real world impact. And I'm really pleased to advise that we are on track to achieve our ambitious 2030 climate targets. Through investments in renewable energy and storage, sustainable property and other green technologies*, we are continuing to invest in attractive, risk adjusted return opportunities towards our targets.
* We measure progress towards our climate solutions target aligned with SDGs 7, 11.6 and 13 according to the SDI AOP Taxonomy. More information available at sdi-aop.org/sdi-classification
Thank you for investing with HESTA and for trusting us with your retirement savings. I'll now pass over to Josh Parisotto, our Chief Engagement and Growth Officer, to discuss how we’re helping members face the future with confidence.
Josh Parisotto:
Thank you, Sonya. I'm going to share a bit more about our focus on enhancing our digital experiences for members and also provide some insights into the work we've done, rethinking retirement for those members who are considering life after work. We know that many of you want to engage with your super online in ways that work best for you, and at times that suit you best.
This has been a major driver of us to improve our digital offerings and how we're investing in faster, intuitive, and more personalised online solutions. Solutions that give you the information you want to help you make informed decisions and build your financial knowledge and confidence. This includes continued enhancements to our app, on-demand educational videos and Future Planner.
More than 52,000 members used our Future Planner tool in financial year 25. And they primarily used it to model different scenarios like increasing contributions, adjusting investment options and changing retirement dates. This personalised information allows members to consider what further advice or support they need to help them plan and progress their long-term financial goals.
Just like our video on demand education videos are proving to be popular with members. We have had over 12,000 views of our videos which are on our website on a range of topics including income layering, retirement options and understanding the ups and downs of market volatility. We've also put a lot of time into reimagining our retirement offerings for those of you who are transitioning to retirement and those who have already fully retired.
This is a major focus of our work. Over the next five years, we're expecting a huge increase in the number of retirees in Australia. And they want to know how to maximise their savings. We review member outcomes within our retirement income strategy every year to ensure both our pre and retired member experiences meet their changing needs, and we continue to offer regular information seminars.
Last year we had almost 5000 registrations for our pre-retirement and retirement seminars. We focused on helping these members shift from accumulation savings to living off them so they can confidently manage their retirement income and feel secure about their future. This is just a small insight in the way we're working to deliver digital experiences and retirement options you want, so that you feel more confident in your financial future.
Debby Blakey:
I want to thank you all for joining HESTA's Annual Member Meeting tonight. It's been an absolute pleasure to present the FY25 Year in Review to you. And I want to reiterate HESTA's commitment to supporting all our members to retire with confidence.
Issued by H.E.S.T. Australia Ltd ABN 66 006 818 695 AFSL 235249, the Trustee of HESTA ABN 64 971 749 321. The target market determination for HESTA products can be found at hesta.com.au/tmd. Before making a decision about HESTA products you should read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (for a copy, call HESTA on 1800 813 327 or visit hesta.com.au/pds and consider any relevant risks.