The Greens say they have obtained figures which show the New South Wales Government has invested at least $28.7 million in tobacco products through fund managers.

Greens MP John Kaye’s obtained figures from Treasury which show that $2 billion of government money is sunk into trusts, which in turn hold between 1.3 and 1.7 per cent of their assets in the tobacco industry.

He says that adds up to $28.7 million the government has invested in tobacco.

The Government says it does not directly invest in such companies, but employs fund managers to decide what shares should be bought.

Dr Kaye says New South Wales should follow the ACT’s policy on ethical investments.

“(It should) turn around to its investment managers and say very clearly ‘we don’t want anything to do with the tobacco industry, don’t sell us a product that has tobacco shares in it’,” he said.

Dr Kaye says its hypocritical behaviour from a Government that criticised its Labor predecessor for investing in tobacco.