Race for financial services ministry heats up as announcement looms

Few expected the scale of the Labor victory in the federal election, but now that a strong majority has been confirmed, the focus has shifted to who will fill the returning government’s ministry positions.

With a caucus meeting set for Friday, the news of who will fill the spots will be announced at some point between then and the swearing-in of ministers – expected to be next Tuesday.

All that has been confirmed so far is that some of the senior positions will remain stable – Jim Chalmers as Treasurer and Katy Gallagher as Finance Minister, for instance.

Regardless of the election’s outcome, there was always going to be a new financial services minister with Stephen Jones not contesting the election.

There have been a group of names bandied about since Jones announced his exit from politics, however, now that results have solidified, some new names have entered the fray.

As Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) general manager, policy, advocacy and standards Phil Anderson noted at a Holley Nethercote event on Wednesday, filling this spot is “more important to us than just about everyone else”.

The early candidates

Senator Jenny McAllister, Dr Daniel Mulino, Dr Andrew Leigh, and Dr Andrew Charlton have been tipped as possibilities for months.

Speaking on The ifa Show, Marshan Consulting director Ben Marshan said the four are still the “more likely options”.

“Andrew Leigh is one name that’s been talked about,” Marshan said.

“He’s already within the Treasury portfolio in one of the more junior ministries there. Dr Daniel Mulino, who would be another option, he’s currently on the economics committee and therefore comes with some experience around this portfolio.

“You’ve got Andrew Charlton, who is an up-and-comer and … while they may not have looked to give him a ministry last time, given he’s managed to win the seat of Parramatta in back-to-back elections, which is not an easy job to start with, but also quite definitively, they might want to look to reward Andrew Charlton there.

“Then Jenny McAllister is probably in line to start to get a slightly more senior position. She’s already a minister but maybe looking to move her into a slightly more senior portfolio. Those are probably obvious names that I think have been talked about a lot.”

Anderson also threw out three of these names, omitting Leigh from his list of possibilities.

New entrants to the race

Deborah O’Neill was a name that both Marshan and Anderson floated as joining the race, though Marshan noted she is “maybe a more junior senator and maybe a little bit less prominent but again, has been on the economics committee for a long, long time in the Senate and the PJC”.

Anderson added: “For those who have a long memory going back to a former minister, even Chris Bowen has been tipped as a possible option going forward, so that’s going to be very interesting to find out.”

Bowen, who had served as financial services minister in the first Kevin Rudd government and then under Julia Gillard, was also a name Marshan noted as a “longer shot possibility”.

“Depending where he ends up on the pecking order, because again, while he’s been successful in some roles and less successful in others, he’s starting to be an elder statesman, and they might start to move him down the pecking order as they start to promote up some of the new talent,” he added.

“He’d be another name that wouldn’t shock me if, if he was moved into financial services as well.”

For Anderson, noting that the FAAA will “work with whoever” is chosen, Bowen would be the “better option”.

“We do want someone who has a good understanding of the financial services and particularly the financial advice profession, and they want to engage, they want to actively engage with the profession to understand what’s important and are committed to achieving the objectives that have already been set by the former minister around access and affordability to financial advice,” he said.

“So, we want someone who’s going to jump into this, roll their sleeves up and get on and deliver those things that have been in the works ever since the Quality of Advice Review in 2022.”

Among other long shots, Marshan put forward his local member Matt Thistlethwaite, who has been on a number of economic committee and “has knowledge of financial services and the Treasury portfolio from there”.

“He was also given some really hard ministries in the last Parliament, primarily the minister for the republic, which got quietly shuffled away midterm post-Voice,” he said.

“He’s probably due for some more prominent ministry as well.

“You’ve got Jess Walsh who’s been running the Senate economics committee and therefore again has that pedigree there from understanding the portfolio.”

Another name that has seen some media speculation, though not mentioned by either Anderson or Marshan, is NSW senator Tim Ayres. Despite no experience in the Treasury portfolio, Ayres has been tipped in some corners as a leading candidate to take the role.

Splitting the Treasury portfolio

Interestingly, the Labor MP that takes over from Jones may not actually be just one person, as Marshan argued there could be a split of the assistant treasurer and financial services minister roles.

“I don’t know how much this was fully appreciated, the assistant treasurer role in Parliament is virtually the busiest portfolio in reality because while the Treasurer is the face of everything that goes on from a policy perspective, the implementation of it all actually happens through the assistant treasurer,” he said.

“I’ve heard it said regularly that around a third of all legislation that goes through Parliament goes through that specific office. Then there was financial services on top of it.

“What we’ve traditionally had over the last – while I’ve been in roles where I’ve been dealing with politicians, Parliament and Treasury – is that we’ve had a separate financial service minister to the assistant treasurer and therefore you’ve got somebody who’s just focused on financial services and can give it the time it needs given what’s happened over the post-royal commission period.”

He added that splitting the portfolio would also have the potential of resolving some of the factional infighting over the limited ministry spots.

“The reality is that Labor were the opposition for nine years over the previous Liberal government, so you had a stacking up of senior Labor members who, it was their time to get a role and get a ministry,” Marshan said.

“You get into a second term and you’re starting to look at this majority and then potentially what happens with the next election and rolling into a third term of government and you want to start nurturing some of the younger talent that you’re going to want to be there in the next term and going forwards once the current crop of experienced politicians retires.

“It would make sense to split it up and it would make sense to give it to a younger up-and-coming member or senator to get their teeth into a portfolio.”

To hear more from Ben Marshan, tune in here.