Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones will step down from the ministry when the federal election is called.
In a statement on Thursday morning, Jones announced he will not stand for re-election as the member for Whitlam.
“I want to express my immense gratitude to my community for the faith and trust they have placed in me to be their representative since 2010,” Jones said.
“I want to thank the members of the Australian Labor Party, whose values I hold dear and have always attempted to advance in my role as a member of Parliament, shadow minister and minister.
“I want to thank the Prime Minister for his friendship and support over many decades and for the trust he has placed in me to be the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services in his government.
“To my family and friends, whose love and support has enabled me to represent our great community with the dedication it deserves, I thank you wholeheartedly.
“And to all the staff that have worked with and supported me over the last 15 years, there is a long list of accomplishments we have achieved both for the electorate of Whitlam and in my role as minister, and I couldn’t have done it without you.”
Reflecting on his time in Parliament, the minister said he was proud of his role in a number of measures.
“I am proud of the role I played in progressing marriage equality and gambling ad reform in my early years. I am also proud of the work we have done to secure the future of our steel industry, to rebuild TAFE and as Assistant Treasurer, fighting scams, protecting workers superannuation, making financial advice more accessible and affordable and strengthening consumer protections for all Australians,” the minister said.
“This great community deserves a representative who will continue to fight for the things that matter. A well-funded TAFE system, a future for manufacturing, cheaper childcare, restoring Medicare, affordable housing and better infrastructure for our growing suburbs.
“I know Labor will choose a candidate that will do just that.”
While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has yet to call the election, it must be held on 17 May at the latest. There has been wide speculation that the date will likely fall on 12 April to avoid conflicting with the Western Australia state election on 8 March.
Following strong consumer price index results on Wednesday, a range of economists revised their expectations for an interest rate cut in February, and possibly a second at the RBA’s April meeting, bolstering the case for an April election.
Jones was first elected to Parliament in 2010 and was appointed as shadow financial services minister and shadow assistant treasurer in June 2019 before taking on the minister role following Labor’s victory at the 2022 election.
There had previously been speculation surrounding Jones’ survival as minister during a cabinet reshuffle in July 2024, which eventually saw just one change in the Treasury portfolio.
Clare O’Neil, who had been the subject of significant criticism in her previous role of home affairs minister, took over as Minister for Housing and Homelessness, replacing Julie Collins, who is now Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and continues as Minister for Small Business.
However, Jones, himself a target of broad criticism from the advice sector over the rollout of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes reforms and the growing levies on the profession, had avoided the shrapnel.
Jones is also the fourth member of the Albanese ministry to retire during this term, following Bill Shorten, Linda Burney and Brendan O’Connor.
Last Thursday at Shellharbour Fish market watch Stephen Jones Jump the long cue for Easter Feast , no one said a word of this Cue Jumper , thank God this person is out of Politics soon , And infective Member of Parliament but will retire on a fat Pension for life Curtis of the Australian Public, sometime a country get Political representative we Don’t Deserve ! ( Life member of a Service Club Garry )
Bahahahahha. Came in, did absolutely nothing for a few years, sails off into the sunset. This doesn’t surprise me at all. What surprises me is how many advisers expected anything different over the prior few years.
Jones & Hume….peas in a pod.
Mr Jones is as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.
The CSLR is just another link in the chain of the Labor/Industry Fund movement to put independent advisers out of business so they can have super all to themselves. And Jones was just another of the apparatchiks following party orders.
Yes run now after the worst decisions ever made for this profession. Leave the mess for Simone else to work with, what a clown! Good riddance
Very likely the most incompetent Labor MP to ever grace the Ministry. Mindblowing that he will now receive a monster indexed pension for life for achieving nothing. To make matters worse, funded by the taxpayer.
Alban, surely you are at least partly responsible for this clown?
The CSLR was established under Jones. He would know that the financial advice profession does not have the capacity to compensate investors when fund managers do the wrong thing. He knows that the CSLR will eventually become an adviser liability so big that it will strip innocent individual advisers of all their assets and send them bankrupt. He doesn’t want to be around when the carnage unfolds. Jones turned the hot mess into a blast furnace.
Finally realised he was sooooooo far out of his depth. Reality is that he made accessing advice more expensive and difficult.
Wow, it looks like Jones will finally follow through with something he’s said he will do.
Top comment!
So many great achievements in such a short span. Such as the term Qualified Adviser. On behalf of all the backpackers on working holiday visa’s soon to be giving advice …thankyou. Not to mention removing GST credits on Advice fee, thank you for driving up advice. 6 monthly breach reporting to ASIC via that website no one can ever find..thanks… Introducing terms such as Licensed, Qualified, Registered and yet another ASIC fee and another website. All the hard work with the CSLR and driving out Advice businesses. And you fixed that hot bed of advice.. Such a valuable contribution to the Finance Sector. Oh and a big thankyou for turning the other way when Industry Super Funds were accused of so many failings in your term.
Did you honestly expect anything better from Socialists?
Will not be missed by the advice industry that’s for sure, a mouthpiece full of hot air.
Thanks for nothing in respect to financial services. Good bye and don’t let the door hit you in the a**e on the way out,
Oh! The outpouring of grief in the industry will be comparable will the passing of Princess Dianna. What will the industry do now – robbed of its much beloved leadership.
so much for wasting all those hours on the QAR submissions…
Good riddance to bad rubbish! TOTALLY INCOMPETENT! DITHERER! Tripped over his own feet. USELESS
I met with Helen Haines and told her to write a letter to Minister Jones explaining that Advisers believe he is incompetent and didnt understand his portfolio. Looks like I was right.
Never forget his greatest input to the industry was trying to implement:
“qualified adviser” to allow industry fund aligned backpackers to earn bonuses on transfer volume
The legislation piece that would have removed the ability for advisers to charge clients via their product.
You will be sorely missed………………said no financial planner EVER.
Yep, he’s really earned his $300,000+ p.a. inflation-linked parliamentary pension for which he will do absolutely nothing for the taxpayer. God help us with his replacement.
Sorry, and though not a fan of Mr Jones, he was elected after the 2004 Federal election, therefore, he is not in the defined benefit parliamentary plan!
Well, that’s some good news, at least!
Or the Unions wanted him gone anyhow
He did a great job of saying the right things and implementing no changes. Time to move on to the next wind bag.
“I hear you” and “we get that”
Well done on getting the experienced adviser pathway in place as this was a mess that Jane Hume left
slam the door behind you mate you have done nothing to help!
This explains his lack of interest in financial services & particularly our industry …..
Most likely has a job lined up with ISN…
All of you are being mean, somebody else wrote his retirement speech for him.
Bye, most impotent and conflicted liar we’ve had as minister. And that’s saying something!
A true champion of easy wins and conqueror of the hot mess.
Well put
Achieved zero in fixing the HOT MESS
And actually made it HOTTER.
Yet another FAILURE of a Financial Services Minister.
Is this the start of ministers resigning before the election where they know their seats are unstable similar to the Uk
Dear Minister…
Sadly, your claim of “making financial advice more accessible and affordable” is just a thought in your head. Another example of what you say not aligning with reality.
Another unqualified politician who was not fit for the job.
I think it’s about time there was some “fit person” test for politicians to take on a portfolio that requires some level of qualifications or knowledge. This remedial just talked a big game but simply wasted more of our time and produced no real change.
cya champ
Thank goodness. Jones was a total flop.
Now, who will mutter weasel-words “I hear you” and “we get that” ?
What a S*!T show! But we come to expect this for our “Profession” and least we are well qualified to deal with this incompetence.
What can I say about Jones? He came, did nothing, and then he left.
He didn’t fix the hot mess—surprise, surprise. Industry super and the Super Members Council are losing their man, but don’t worry, the conveyor belt will spit out another one soon enough.
Jones was incurious and incompetent enough to land the role, but not competent enough to deliver the full prize to industry super.
Rest assured though, if Labor wins, someone else will pick up where he left off—hell-bent on giving industry super their NCAs (New Call-Centre Assistants) and their trail commissions… oh, I mean “collectively charged fees.”
Farewell, Jones. You won’t be missed.
Jones is about as popular as a breatho on Parramatta Road.
The only time I felt I saw him truly advocate for a cause was just after he was elected.
He was on the telly explaining that it would be a good idea to water down the transparency requirements regarding super trustee spending of members retirement funds. Wonder why that was?
Following that, it has been one mess after the next. In my view, the equity of his decision making appears heavily tainted and coloured by the seemingly never-ending and arguably conflict riddled relationship between politicians, unions and certain super funds.
In my opinion, this is not a feature that is desirable in a ‘healthy democracy’. I feel like I’m fighting against a machine that puts ‘friends of Government’ first and people like us on here last.
Professional financial advisers, support staff, our clients and the Australian society deserve much better than what we have experienced in this space.
I’ll put $500 on Ed Husic to pick up the portfolio post-election.
I suppose if I had to say something nice, I could say … he was about as good as Jane Hume
Is he retiring due to his incompetent failure to implement his promises? Or did he fail to implement his promises because he always planned to retire early and couldn’t be bothered making an effort?
Either way, his ministerial tenure has been a waste of 3 years, and the Australian public is worse off for it.
Leaving a bigger, hotter mess than the one he walked into
No words needed
Resigns before he gets sacked. He’s smarter than I thought.
Now the fall out from his bad decisions with the financial sector will have no ramifications. Good one! I love how on the news this morning mentioned people should go to their super fund for advice on whether to commence a pension and go to their super fund all through life to see if there is anything they should do – also congratulating the government on their reforms to make advice more accessable. Idiots
To quote Homer Simpson looking at his senior school yearbook…”Activities? None. Sports? None. Honors? None”. So many memories.
What has this guy done to make ‘financial advice more accessible and affordable? His opinion of himself and his ‘achievements’ are delusional!
Good riddance!
Hopefully he’ll move to the private sector so that the public purse will no longer have to pay for his incompetence.
He’s probably already got a gig lined up somewhere in Industry Super. That’s where so many ALP types go after politics.
What an embarrassingly small number of achievements over a 15 year tenure. Just another politician who talked a lot, promised a lot, delivered very little and jumped off a sinking ship when things look grim. I wonder what hot mess he will fix in his next role?
Hang on surely this is not the 1st of April, is it? Am I dreaming.
The red tape relief will be coming through any day now.
ha ha ha fixed the hot mess did he!!
No surprises there, and that leaves the whole Industry up the creek without a paddle what a shambles!