Speaking at ifa parent company Momentum Media’s Election 2025 breakfast event in Sydney on Thursday morning, Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones said the changes to education pathways will halve the time and cost for prospective advisers to join the profession.
In what is likely the outgoing minister’s final public appearance in front of an advice audience, he said under the reforms, “the cost and time to meet the new standard will be halved for most students who are studying commerce, economics or finance degrees”.
“It means you don’t have to do two degrees,” Minister Jones said.
“Most kids leaving high school today – and I don’t mean any offence – but they’re not saying to themselves ‘I want to be a financial adviser’.
“The challenge for us is to say how much of that undergraduate degree can articulate into the essential requirements of professional financial advisers, we think we’ve got the balance right there. We don’t tell people they’ve got to go and study another whole degree; we just pick the topics that they need to complement their undergraduate degree.”
According to the minister, the measures will go some way to addressing the significant decline in the number of advisers since the royal commission and the education requirements that were introduced in its wake.
“We’re committed to ensuring that advisers have the training and qualifications they need to act in their clients’ best interest. However, the implementation of the requirement for financial advisers to hold tertiary education qualifications, frankly, was bungled,” Minister Jones said.
“Long-time advisers who diligently acted in their clients’ best interests were told to go back to university or find a new line of work. Unsurprisingly, advisers started leaving the industry in droves, and this was a genuine crisis point for the industry’s liability.”
Pointing to the Labor government’s action on implementing the experienced adviser pathway relatively early in this term of parliament, he added that while this has halted “the bleeding”, more needs to be done.
“In some ways, the previous government designed a qualifications process that was perfect in theory, but hopeless in practice. It’s a significant investment for young people changing careers, or anybody changing careers, and young people early in school to decide their career path and the tertiary qualifications,” Minister Jones said.
“The status quo is unsustainable, and without change, the profession will hit another crisis point very, very soon, and that’s simply a factor of the numbers. More people are leaving the industry than people who are entering being approved qualification.”
Taylor aims for 30k advisers
Also speaking at the event, shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said a Coalition government was also committed to reforming education standards and would make “rebuilding the financial advice industry” a priority.
“This is crucially important. This won’t be just optics or words; this will be driven down into the way we want our regulator and regulation of this industry to work. The numeric target will be embedded in ASIC statement of expectations,” Taylor said.
“ASIC and the other regulators have traditionally seen their statement of expectations, what is expected of them by government, as just focused on managing risk, adding regulation and bureaucracy. But the sector they’re overseeing has to succeed, that has to work for Australians and has to ensure that Australian investments are stewarded in an appropriate way.”
He added: “We need to make sure we get the sector back to where it needs to be, which we believe is 30,000 advisers.”
Shadow financial services minister Luke Howarth, also speaking on Thursday morning, reiterated this goal, calling it a “north star” for future advice reform, though he conceded that a time frame on reaching the 30,000 number has not been set.
“Setting the target acknowledges the collapse in adviser numbers due to excessive regulation and red tape,” Howarth said.
“We know that ultimately fewer advisers means advice is becoming less affordable and accessible for Australians who need it most.”
Jones is an abject failure who has been promoted beyond his ability. I cannot identify one issue he got right. The hot mess is now a wreck.
Why are they still wheeling Jones out to these events? Isn’t he leaving politics?
Are these additional “Advisers” the New Class of Advisor?
1 Jan 2026 = Tax Financial Adviser extra education Still in force for already well educated & well qualified Advisers to waste more time and cost.
Please do an article and get Jones & Howarth to discuss.
No talk of this extra insanity still hanging.
Stephen Jones is like Donald Trump- every time his lips move he’s lying!
Hi Jones If you are listening you had several years to get this right and you did nothing other than hand mor advice revenue to theh large super funds. You are leaving anyway. You guys completely ignored the $220,000 public accountants!!!
This talk is just electioneering!!!
Hi Taylor
Is this also electioneering? Can we believe you. Where did you pluck this magical 30K figure? Your party said they will not overlook the 220,000 public accountants that could fill the shortage overnight.
Can we take you at your word?
Regards
Gerald Kirk FIPA FFA CTA B Bus (RMIT)
Kirks Accountants
40 years in public practice with 700 clients reaching out for this type of advice.
You can give advice now Gerald. Just get qualified, pass the adviser exam and follow all the same regulations advisers do. Why are you waiting? Oh that’s right you are special and want a carve out. Why don’t you do what most other accountants are doing. Just give unlicensed / unqualified advice. ASIC has shown they don’t care.
Yes, Accountants are entitled & superior. They have leather patches on their cardigans.
Hey Gerald, no doubt you have provided bucket loads of AFSL Advice over the years with no AFSL, thus illegal financial advice, just like my accounting partners. And as noted ASIC do NOTHING about it.
If you have 700 clients reaching out for Financial Advice and you have been in practice for 40 years.
Why have you not started an Advice business, bring on an Adviser with equity in a new Advice company to utilise your accounting client base and more importantly provide the clients a holistic service.
My accountant partners have profited handsomely from such a venture.
If accountants want to provide comprehensive financial advice, then they can go through all the education and licensing requirements just like everyone else.
Accountants are not some special breed of skill that justifies any carve out or light touch regulation.
I don’t know how many years I’ve spent in my professional career fixing up poor financial advice from accountants.
This almost 100% in the field of completely inappropriate SMSF arrangements, where the winner was the accounting practice and not the client. Utterly appalling stuff.
The last thing that our society needs is a return to this.
If anything, perhaps accountants should sit the ethics exam. I’d bet very heavily there would be a massive fail rate.
30,000 advisers. A number plucked from thin air, just like every other claim they make. Just spitting nonsense, with no actual context or plan. Not even concepts of a plan.
However you vote, I hope it is irrespective of the nonsense these three spew. Both sides are empty on the advice issue.
Why not target 1 million advisers? Its as unrealistic as 30k.
He can make it free and still no one will take it up. Too little too late, damage caused is not repairable.
Education requirements are not the issue anymore. FASEA got things badly wrong in failing to recognise alternative education pathways existing advisers had followed. But that damage has been done, and the requirements for new entrants are fine, given readily availability of financial planning options at Bachelors and Grad Dip level now.
The far bigger ongoing issue is the cost and complexity of bad regulation, that makes professional financial advice inacessable to most consumers, and makes financial advising an unattractive career to join or stay in. Jones promised to fix some of this, but it has actually gotten worse during his tenure. Now he’s trying to divert attention from his abject failure as responsible minister, by rehashing old issues that are no longer of great importance.
“We know that ultimately fewer advisers means advice is becoming less affordable and accessible for Australians that need it most.”
No Luke, it is the rules and regulations successive Governments have imposed that has pushed the cost of advice up so far.
If your Government had have made the big decision to separate product providers and advice, the industry would be in such a better place, but no, you had to cowtow to vested interests.
Wow!!!! …. is this really Light Bulb moment or just merely just talk that is geared to election toting votes.
The current Government has really done nothing and the LNP (who along with Labour perpetuated this mess to start with) apparently only now have seen the impact with regards to highly experienced plus 50-year (now) ex- advisers leaving the profession, when these ex -peers had over 15- 20 years’ experience or more and who held perfect compliance records.
The primary reason advisers are still leaving is the Fed Govt’s inflationary CSLR & ASIC Fee tariff placed on advisers, which makes it more expensive for consumers to access retail advice.
“Setting the target acknowledges the collapse in adviser numbers due to excessive regulation and red tape,” Howarth said.
And who is responsible for that?
So both sides had the opportunity to announce something meaningful to win over financial planners at this event, but neither of them promised anything at all.
I have no doubt that both parties will reach the 30,000 target. But of course this will consist of 15,000+ unqualified, call centre operators flogging product, as the ALP intend for Industry Funds and the Coalition will give that power to other product providers like fund managers and life insurance companies.
What a hopeless failure our professional bodies are.
lucky the two of them are in ACT or woulf be charged with drug use cannabis possession and consumption only way they could come to this conclusion
I call BS. This is like a Dutton promise – you will get the detail IF we are elected
An extra 30k advisers? How the hell will they be profitable
Bugger off Jonesy, and take your industry-fund horse with you
Maybe Mr Jones and his party could have a good look at what they have done to make the advice profession a draw for students. There are many good reasons why students are saying they don’t want to be an adviser. The main one being both political parties and all regulators continually disrespecting the important and valuable work advisers perform. Governments and regulators have been happy to push the “dodgy adviser” mantra to score cheap political points, and have done nothing to remove numerous layers of red tape that stop advisers from assisting more Australians. Until this is done the 30,000 target is a joke.