Taylor announces scrutiny of government's deviation from QAR review

In a statement issued hours after Financial Services Minister, Stephen Jones, announced the government’s policy stance on the second and third tranches of the Quality of Advice Review (QAR), the Coalition slammed the government for yet again leaving the industry with “unanswered questions and lack of regulatory certainty”.

“The government was handed a considered and timely review by Ms Michelle Levy that would have provided safer, simpler, and cheaper financial advice to all Australians. This would have had positive benefits to the economy as well as to consumers,” shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said.

“Instead, the government has delayed, second guessed the reviewer, and after failing to deliver a response in the budget, finally delivered a full response to what should be a seminal productivity roadmap for our financial advice sector.

“This is both disappointing and unsurprising,” Mr Taylor noted.

He said that while the Coalition supports the concessions that financial advice reforms need to extend beyond superannuation, “these reforms are meaningless” if Labor plans to unwind the Your Future, Your Super reforms.

The Coalition has been a vocal supporter of Ms Levy and the QAR, and has on several occasions called on the government to implement the review in full. It’s also been heavily critical of Mr Jones’ ambiguous statements regarding timelines for delivery.

“The government’s final response to the review still lacks concrete timelines for delivery, leaving the industry with significant unanswered questions and lack of regulatory certainty,” the Coalition’s statement reads.

The Coalition now plans to “closely examine” the proposal before finalising its position.

It also intends to examine the government’s deviations from the Levy review to “ensure” that the implementation is “simple, scalable, and supports good outcomes for consumers and the advice industry”.