On 11 September 2004, the
Federal Treasurer, Peter Costello, announced that the Future Fund would be established following the
2004 federal election. The Future Fund Act 2006 received
Royal Assent on 23 March 2006. On 5 May 2006, $18 billion, derived from government surpluses as well as income from the sale of a third of
Telstra in its ongoing privatisation, was deposited into the fund. On 28 February 2007, the government transferred the Commonwealth's remaining 17% stake in
Telstra, valued at A$8.9 billion, into the Fund. These contributions and transfers increased the Fund to over
A$50 billion by the end of the 2006–2007 financial year. In March 2007, the opposition
Labor Party announced it would withdraw A$2.7 billion from the Future Fund to finance the
National Broadband Network, an initiative to install broadband internet infrastructure across Australia, if it won the
2007 election; this proposal prompted government ministers to proclaim that Labor intended to "raid" the Future Fund for their own means. Labor later indicated that the use of any funds from the Future Fund towards a national high speed broadband network will have to comply and meet all requirements of any commercial investment. This included producing a commercial
rate of return on the invested funds, with all profits being returned into the Future Fund allowing further investment. In May 2007, it was revealed that the
Chicago-based
Northern Trust Corporation had won a competitive tender process to manage the Fund. Rick Waddell, President and Chief Operating Officer of Northern Trust, indicated that Australian companies did not have the expertise to manage the Future Fund. Northern Trust stood to collect A$30 million in annual fees. Controversy arose when it was realised that the Fund will be managed by a foreign bank with no base in Australia. National secretary of the Finance Sector Union Paul Schroder estimated that around 100 jobs will be lost when the US company starts managing the Fund from Singapore using staff from India. Northern Trust was linked to the
Enron scandal. In his
2008 Australian federal budget speech, the Treasurer,
Wayne Swan announced three new "Nation-Building Funds", also to be managed by the Future Fund Board. These included a $20 billion Building Australia Fund to invest in roads, rail, ports and broadband; an $11 billion Education Investment Fund, which absorbed the $6 billion Higher Education Endowment Fund set up by the previous government; and a $10 billion Health and Hospital Fund. In that budget and the following
2009 federal budget, the Labor
Rudd government promised $41 billion to create these new funds. The fund become a member of the
International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds and signed up to the
Santiago Principles on best practices for managing Sovereign Wealth Funds. As a member it publishes how it adopts and implements the principles within its governance procedures. In May 2013, a DisabilityCare Australia Fund was established by the DisabilityCare Fund Act 2013. The Fund will fund the
National Disability Insurance Scheme and is also to be managed by the Future Fund Board. The Fund is to receive contributions from the increase in the
medicare levy by 0.5% to a total of 2% from 1 July 2014. In the
May 2014 federal budget, the
Abbott government announced its intention to establish the
Medical Research Future Fund and the Asset Recycling Fund and to discontinue the Building Australia Fund, Education Investment Fund and Health and Hospitals Fund. The Senate approved the establishment of the Medical Research Future Fund in August 2015, to be managed by the Future Fund, with interest generated going to medical research, beginning with $10 million in 2015, growing to $390m over the following three years. In 2016, it was announced that the Future Fund,
Queensland Investment Corporation and
AGL Energy would form the
Powering Australian Renewables Fund (PARF) investing in two of Australia's largest solar plants at the time. In April 2018, the Future Fund contributed to the A$225 million Fund III of
Blackbird Ventures, which was directed towards investments in technology companies based in Australia and New Zealand. In April 2019, the Future Fund announced that it had returned an average of over 10% a year in the last decade. In September 2019, the Future Fund reported it had $162.6 billion in assets at the prior June 30, from seed capital of $60.5 billion in 2008, with no contributions made over the period. In December 2019, the Future Fund acquired a 24.1% stake in Canberra Data Centres from the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation. In February 2025, the fund increased its stake to 34.55%. The deal valued CDC at A$17 billion. In June 2021, the Future Fund led a consortium with the Commonwealth Superannuation and
Sunsuper in acquiring a 49 per cent interest in Telstra InfraCo Towers for A$2.8 billion, valuing the company at A$5.9 billion. In November 2022, the fund participated in Blackbird Ventures Fund V, which closed at A$1 billion. The fund was focused on technology companies in Australia and New Zealand. In November 2024, the Treasurer,
Jim Chalmers, and the Finance Minister,
Katy Gallagher, announced that the Future Fund will be directed to invest in green energy and housing projects where sustainable. == Investments in nuclear weapons and tobacco industries==