House of Assembly Fifty-First Parliament, Third Session (51-3) 51 3 Parliament of South Australia House of Assembly published Answers to Questions Funds SA FUNDS SA In reply to Mr HAMILTON-SMITH House of Assembly Waite Leader of the Opposition FUNDS SA In reply to Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (24 September 2008). The Hon. K.O. FOLEY House of Assembly Port Adelaide Deputy Premier Minister for Industry and Trade Minister for Federal/State Relations FUNDS SA The Hon. K.O. FOLEY (Port Adelaide—Deputy Premier, Treasurer, Minister for Industry and Trade, Minister for Federal/State Relations): I have been provided the following information: Over the year to 30 June 2008, Funds SA’s Growth Fund returned -11.2 per cent. Clearly, the performance for the year is poor, but generated in the context of very poor market returns generally. Over the year, the Australian share market returned -13.7 per cent and global shares returned -15.6 per cent in local currency terms and -20.6 per cent in Australian dollars (unhedged). Australian listed property returned -37.7 per cent. While the return for last year is poor, performance over longer periods is well on track. Over the past 5 years, the fund has earned 10.8 per cent per annum, and over the past 10 years 8.3 per cent per annum. Further, the Growth Fund has performed ahead of the average return for growth funds as surveyed by Rainmaker. The government’s funds set aside to meet the various defined benefit superannuation obligations are invested within the Growth Fund, together with member contributions to the defined benefit schemes. Investment earnings for the various defined benefit schemes fell $663 million over the year leaving the closing asset value for these accounts at $5.2 billion. It is worth observing that over the past ten years, the growth strategy has generated total investment earnings of $2.7 billion for the defined benefit schemes.