‘You’ve got a minister who gets it’, Jones says in candid interview

In an exclusive interview with ifa, Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones sent a candid message to advisers, assuring them that he “gets it” and believes in “the work you do”.

“You’ve got a minister who gets it, who’s keen on working with the profession. Yeah, I believe in the work you do, but I’m actually motivated by the people you’re serving and their needs. So, we’ve got a lot of Australians who will increasingly be relying on advisers and advice to make good decisions. Let’s ensure that we can help Australians make their money work better for them,” Mr Jones said.

Reflecting on his time in office to date, and on the initial promise he made to fix the “hot mess” that is the advice industry, Mr Jones said that while he understands the urgency, his approach has been thorough, and one that will ensure lasting and meaningful change.

“You always want things to go faster than they are. I’ve been pretty impatient about trying to get some reform going in the financial advice space. I feel for the advisers. It’s not just five- or six-years’ worth of change. If you have a look at what has gone on over the last two decades, there’s been significant upheaval in the financial advice industry, and in the finance industry more broadly, driven by crisis, driven by inquiries, driven by royal commission, all of it well meaning, but you’ve had layer upon layer upon layer of regulatory change often solving the same problem three or four different times, and three or four different ways,” Mr Jones said.

“So, what I wanted to do is take a step back and say what matters most here? Fix it once, not five times and ensure that the regulation is fit for purpose, is making it safer for consumers, but also providing not one more page of red tape and bureaucratic regulation for the industry than is absolutely necessary. And that’s the journey we’ve embarked upon.”

The minister explained that while he has waded through the “significant challenges” hampering the advice landscape, one group of people has been front of mind – the consumers.

“At the front of the queue is the 5 million Australians who are either at or approaching retirement who need some advice on how to make their superannuation and their savings work for them and that’s what my first raft of reforms is aimed at. Much further down the track, but that’s what the first raft of reforms is aimed at,” Mr Jones explained.

Reflecting on the Quality of Advice Review (QAR) and the criticism he has faced regarding his approach, the minister said he shares the frustration within the industry.

“People will always want things to go faster than they actually are,” the minister acknowledged.

“On the review that Michelle Levy did, it’s an important job of work. Some useful recommendation in there. I didn’t get a legislative blueprint. I actually didn’t even get a policy blueprint, and there were some ideas in there that were pretty contentious, many I agreed with, some that I had an open mind on but weren’t obvious to me, to be honest.

“So, we’ve stressed tested a bunch of them and so we’ve taken the first tranche which is stream one, and they are the ones that are obvious, things that are about red tape reduction. I hope to have some draft legislation within the month so that we can pour over that, just to make sure it’s technically correct, and get it into Parliament first up next year.”

The second tranche, which centres on retirement income, is the “next cab off the rank”.

“We’re doing all of these things in parallel, but it’s as simple as this. You got a tube about that fat, and if you try to squeeze everything through it at once, nothing will pass through. So that’s the tube of Parliament and the policymaking process. So I’ve been very pragmatic.

“What can we get through? What’s ready to go? What’s not ready to go? And let’s try and move these things through in a logical fashion.

“It’s fair enough for people who aren’t parliamentary insiders to be frustrated, and I get it. But it’s my job to work within the system to try and make this stuff happen, and I think I’m doing that definitely.”

To watch our full interview with Minister Jones click here.