By Stephen Mayne, unpaid speaker at the last four annual industry funds conferences

The undisputed king of Australia’s industry funds movement, Garry Weaven, is a classic example of the old adage that the
smartest unionists often don’t finish up pensioned off sitting on red or
green leather in a Parliament.

Weaven rose through the ranks of the ACTU but then forged a career during the Hawke-Keating years as
the guru of superannuation, which included a stint working for Westpac.
The father of the $50 billion-plus industry funds movement has created a hell of a lot
of value for his members and part of the success has been the
unchallenged way that the Weaven faction has retained control.

However, that won’t necessarily stay the case forever. Some trustees have raised issues about the amount of
money being spent by industry funds on the initial advertising blitz after the onset of
what Weaven calls the “so-called choice legislation”.

There were
also rumbles about the successful $788 million takeover bid for
renewable energy company
Pacific Hydro, when the industry funds could have walked away from this
year’s takeover battle with a $200 million profit on their original 30%
stake.

Having placed a very large $600 million bet on renewable energy, Weaven appeared a
little frustrated at the 2005 industry funds conference in Cairns
earlier this week. His opening address attacked George Bush for not
recognising the dangers of global warming and pointed out that only
Australia, the US and Lichtenstein remain implacably opposed to the
Kyoto Protocol.

Weaven said he hoped the devastation of Hurricane Katrina would
prompt
the US President to reconsider his opposition to the likes of a carbon
tax as a way of tackling greenhouse gas induced climate change.

Later on in the conference, Weaven said the lack of a carbon tax and emission trading in
Australia meant that Pacific Hydro’s growth prospects for the short
term would remain focused outside Australia.

When it came to the question of seeking better returning investments
outside what looks like fully priced equity and property markets,
someone mentioned commodities and Weaven pointed out that carbon
credits in Europe have been the best performed commodity over the past 12 months,
rising from 6 euros to 20 euros.

The session at the conference which most pleased Weaven was the
presentation by IAG CEO Michael Hawker, which highlighted all the
dangers to insurers from climate change. When challenged by a
CBUS trustee about the progress of industry funds influence, Weaven
said getting Hawker to address the conference and openly speak about a
major split in the Business Council of Australia on the question of
climate change policies was a major step forward.

Hawker said energy companies and major power users had stopped the BCA
developing a progressive and united position on the need for a carbon
tax and emissions trading, but he said even these recalcitrant CEOs now
wanted certainty over long term policies when weighing up major energy
industry investments decisions.

Hawker left the distinct impression that the Howard Government will
come under growing pressure to finally enter the ring on renewable
energy policies. Former Environment Minister David Kemp bowed out of
politics when John Howard rejected his proposals two years ago and came
up with what was more of an Energy Policy than an Environment Policy.

The Howard Government has done much to try and cruel the growth and
power of industry funds over the years, so the chances of a policy
change are perhaps reduced by the fact these same union-associated
industry funds are standing by as the biggest potential beneficiaries
of any carbon tax and emission trading system.