But the change would mean where projects offered similar returns, the fund would favour investments that delivered on national priorities.

“Its primary objective will continue to be to maximise returns, the benchmark return rate will remain at between 4 and 5 per cent above CPI per annum over the long term, and there will be no change to the expected risk profile,” Chalmers said.

“The fund will provide the same strong returns to the government’s balance sheet while supporting national priorities where it can.

“This will mean more investment where we need it most, but not at the expense of returns.”

The fund already holds investments in various property, renewable energy and infrastructure companies. It has invested in Tilt Renewables, which has 1.8 gigawatts of wind, solar and battery storage projects and aims to have 7 gigawatts by the end of the decade, and has sunk money into Melbourne Airport’s planned $3 billion third runway.

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Combet said meeting the 4-5 per cent plus inflation investment target remained the fund’s focus, but argued the priority areas aligned with the organisation’s own goals.

“The priority areas are aligned with the Future Fund’s thinking as set out in its position papers and consistent with its investment focus on seeking more local currency exposure and protection against sustained higher inflation,” he said.

The government has also committed not to draw down the fund’s holdings until at least 2032-33, by which time it is forecast to hold $380 billion in cash and assets.

Chalmers said the fund would be an “enduring” part of the economy, in effect confirming it would be permanent rather than being wound up when it had covered all outstanding superannuation liabilities.

Combet said this meant the Future Fund would be in place for years to come.

“With that certainty, we will be able to continue to invest for the long term, make sustainable contributions to the federal budget and continue to grow the value of the fund long into the future,” he said.

Opposition finance spokesperson Jane Hume said while the Coalition had yet to see the full details of the proposal, it would be worried by any changes that affected the fund’s independence.

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“The Albanese government must not undermine the Future Fund’s independence by seeking to direct where and how it can invest simply to cover up its policy failures,” she said.

“It would do [Finance Minister] Katy Gallagher and Jim Chalmers well to remember that the Future Fund is a sovereign asset that belongs to all Australians, it is not a piggy-bank for Labor to crack open when it can’t deliver on its priorities.”

Then-fund chairman Costello last year argued that the Future Fund should focus on making returns rather than pursuing social goals.

Neither Labor nor the Coalition had attempted to tell the Future Fund what to invest in, he said, and if this were to occur it would “come to a very bad end”.

“This is an investment fund – we invest for return. That’s what we’re here for,” he said last February.

Apart from its core fund, the Future Fund also oversees six investment vehicles, including the $23.3 billion Medical Research Future Fund and the $10.6 billion Housing Australia Future Fund.

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