PLY: News from Australia and New Zealand to kick start the week from the southern hemisphere up, happy reading…
HESTA Has Not Specified Return Target For Impact Investment Fund
Dan Purves – Investment Magazine
At the beginning of September HESTA announced it had partnered with Social Ventures Australia (SVA) to launch the country’s largest impact investing fund, enabling the super fund to make direct and indirect investments in a range of businesses, housing projects and social impact bonds that delivered both financial returns and identifiable and quantifiable social impact.
NZ – We Can Do Better – The Productivity Commission On Social Services
Chapman Tripp – Lexology
At the heart of the Productivity Commission’s final report on More effective social services are the most neglected, most vulnerable people in our society.
The Commission’s 61 recommendations advocate a fundamentally different approach to the way the system works for our most in need citizens, people whose lives are complicated and who face multiple challenges.
Some tools
Social bonds (also referred to as social impact bonds) are a newly developing form of results-based contracting between the government, private social service providers and investors – which may be financial institutions, charities or individuals.
They are in use in the UK, the US and New South Wales. In New Zealand, pilot work in this area is underway led by the Ministry of Health with the government considering bonds focusing on employment for those with mental health issues, lowering recidivism rates and helping people manage long-term health problems.