Liberal Party slammed for treating advisers ‘so appallingly’

Speaking in the House of Representatives on Wednesday in support of the Better Advice bill, Stephen Jones described the Coalition’s work in the financial sector as a “slow and painful trainwreck” due to a lack of reviews into professional and education standards.

“This is a constituency, if you took them as a whole, you’d probably say there’s more Liberal voters amongst [financial advisers] than Labor voters,” Mr Jones said.

“This is a constituency which the Coalition likes to think of as their own and they have treated them so appallingly not only in the design and implementation of professional standards, but in the ongoing incompetence in the administration of this profession.

“It is no wonder that members of this profession are standing up and questioning their lifelong commitment to Liberal party policies or Liberal Party governments.

“They are saying, ‘why are we backing these guys when at every step of the way they have sold us down the river and shown monumental incompetence and a lack of understanding of our profession and our industry and what is needed to properly regulate it...’”

Mr Jones’ comments come only a week after the chair of dealer group Synchron, Michael Harrison, said during a House of Representatives standing committee that FASEA’s lack of recognition of prior study is seeing older advisers move into mortgage broking.

“... they consider it less onerous, less regulated, they don’t have to worry and there’s no argument about where the commission is going to appear,” Mr Harrison said.

“I think that’s an issue. But I think also anyone over the age of about 55 who looks at going back to university to do a degree is saying ‘It’s all too hard, I’ll find another way.’”

Meanwhile, t was revealed late last month that costs allocated by ASIC to the advice sector have increased by more than $16 million, an increase of over 340 per cent in the last four years.

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.