Liberal wipeout a reality check for advice’s place in national priorities

Just a few months ago you probably could have found Peter Dutton picking out bed linen for Kirribilli House – which he had notably favoured over The Lodge in Canberra – yet before Saturday night had ended, he was the first ever opposition leader to lose their seat.

There had been speculation ahead of the election that Dutton was in danger given he had a margin of just 1.7 per cent, but few would have predicted an 8.2 per cent swing to Ali France.

In the neighbouring electorate of Petrie, shadow financial services minister Luke Howarth suffered a similar fate as his 4.4 per cent margin was unable to withstand the Labor surge.

Another Queensland Liberal MP that failed to hang on to their seat was Bert van Manen.

Entering Saturday with a similar margin as Howarth, former financial adviser van Manen saw a 6 per cent swing oust him from Forde.

He had been instrumental in the Liberal push for advice reform, launching a private member’s bill to clean up statements of advice in November last year.

It made no difference for his constituents.

Despite advisers having a contentious (to put it lightly) recent history with the Liberals, the party had backed all of the key asks coming from the profession, while the Labor government has a more complicated position on the main issues facing advisers.

The Liberals had also provided a much greater level focus on the sector in general, with shadow treasurer Angus Taylor remaining vocal on the topic while it would be tough to remember the last time Jim Chalmers even referenced financial advice.

Ultimately, their stance held little sway in an election focused more keenly on broader economic plans and cost of living pressures – even if greater access to advice would help address those pressures.

Indeed, if the election were held solely on the issues impacting advisers the result could have been very different.

In an ifa poll last year, advisers significantly favoured Howarth (46.4 per cent) over Stephen Jones (9.7 per cent) as their preferred candidate for financial services minister – while the rest favoured neither. As it turns out, that remaining 43.9 per cent got what they wanted.

Where the Coalition will turn to refill its Treasury ranks is tough to gauge, as Taylor is being touted as a potential replacement for Dutton to lead the party in some corners, while his economic plan is being blamed for the defeat in others.

Either way, where the advice profession will need to focus their attention remains unclear on both sides of government, as the replacement for Jones is also yet to be announced and ministry positions could be weeks away from being nailed down.

What is certain is there can be no excuses for any struggles to get legislation across the line during the next three years, with Labor now having a clear path through its strengthened majority in the lower house and diminished crossbench influence in the Senate.

These delays have been among the most frustrating issues for advisers, as the “quick wins” became increasingly delayed.

Speaking at Momentum Media’s Election 2025 event last month, Jones argued that if Australia had four-year terms, the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes (DBFO) package would have been completed.

“I’m a big fan of four-year electoral terms,” he said, responding to a question on whether advice reform was a bigger task than he expected before taking over as minister in 2022.

“I think six more months, actually, we’d have this particular project and a couple more completed.”

The outgoing minister said his successor would now be able to “get on with the easier stuff”.

Given the strength of Labor’s victory, Jones may end up being right.

Advisers should, however, remain hopeful that the reviews and inquiries related to their biggest concern – which ifa’s pre-election poll found was the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort – will bear fruit.

Afterall, while Labor had not made solid commitments on how it would fix the scheme, the findings of the reviews will require some level of response.

In the end, when Australians cast their ballots on Saturday, how the result would impact financial advice simply wasn’t high on the list of priorities.