Jones stresses consumers at centre of QAR-related decisions

In a video message to the Stockbrokers Conference held in Sydney on Tuesday, Mr Jones provided an update on the government’s much anticipated response to the Quality of Advice Review (QAR).

“This [QAR] was a thoughtful piece of work that has had wide-ranging recommendations. The review shines a spotlight on the issues I identified before the election. Current advice framework is filled with overlapping regulations that mean we try to stop the same behaviour or fix the same problem in multiple ways. Well, this has protected Australians from bad advice. It’s also made it very difficult for them to get access to good advice. So, we need to clean this up,” Mr Jones said.

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“We’ve just gone through a huge budget process, hundreds of decisions have needed to be made to look after Australians … but now that that’s been done, I’ll have more to say about the government’s response to the review very soon,” the minister noted.

He explained that, just like he did with experience pathway, he is “determined” to work with the industry and regulators to “get it right” and “make a meaningful difference”.

“I want to make sure that the profession is properly regulated and governed so that people and processes are best placed to get consumers the advice that they need.

“We also want to have a conversation about how to get more advice to more Australians in a safe way that puts at the centre consumers.”

Mr Jones explained that there are “plenty of areas” where the process of giving advice through current channels can be “improved”.

“There’s a broad consensus on these issues and we look to make changes quickly within the legislative timeline that parliament allows.

“We also want to explore how we can get more advice into the economy that could make a real difference to the lives of Australians.”

Touching on the retirement income of Australians, the minister highlighted that access to financial advice can assist in “making that wealth go further”.

“But we need to do it in a way that is measurable, consumer-centric, and responsible,” he said.

Mr Jones also alluded to the accusations he has faced regarding his perceived lack of urgency on the QAR.

“We’ve seen the problems from the last government of rushing to implement things without working with industry, with a clear goal in mind to help consumers.

“I’m determined that we don’t make those same mistakes.”

Earlier this month, Minister Jones said that he would formulate a response to the QAR by early June.

“We will have a cabinet consideration in a few weeks’ time. I hope to be in a position in late May or early June,” the minister said.

He also, at the time, predicted that the review could be implemented in several stages.

Namely, according to the minister, under the initial stage, the government would implement those more immediate recommendations, followed by the more controversial elements and then it would tackle the most difficult areas.

The QAR lead, Michelle Levy, submitted her final QAR report to Mr Jones on 16 December. Since then, aside from initiating a review of the review, the minister has offered very little insight into how the government feels about the 267-page report.