The silence of the minister: Mr Jones’ broken promises 11 months in

Nearly a year ago, on a Monday night, Mr Jones took to Twitter to express his gratitude for the appointment, describing it as a “great honour” and acknowledging that “we’ve got so much work to do”.

Just a month earlier, during the Labor party’s pre-election campaign, Mr Jones restated the infamous line that he would expeditiously resolve the “hot mess” that is the advice industry, and that he would do so within exactly three months of being sworn in.

X

Continue to Website

Three months came and went, and advisers saw no reprieve. Four months came and went, and advisers gave him the benefit of the doubt, assuming he needed more time. Five months passed, and Mr Jones was still nowhere to be found. Eventually, the sixth month arrived, and Mr Jones finally addressed the experience pathway, but solely to indicate that he would have the provisions ready for legislation in the first half of 2023.

Then, on 16 December, the Quality of Advice Review (QAR) lead Michelle Levy handed her final report to the minister, and advisers thought it won’t be long now.

But Christmas came and went, January dawned, and yet Mr Jones remained silent.

And then in February, despite the advisers’ patient wait and their best efforts to carry on with their businesses, Minister Jones signed up to speak at several Conexus Financial events — events that had asked advisers to fork out a minimum of $170 per seat.

As I pointed out at the time, it was almost as if Mr Jones was trying to make advisers pay for the privilege of hearing his thoughts on issues that are of vital importance to their profession.

Battered and bruised, advisers still waited patiently, choosing to believe Mr Jones when he swore that he would fix the “hot mess”.

However, we find ourselves on 3 May, and the minister has only taken one concrete action thus far — to initiate a consultation on the experience pathway, despite being in office for almost a year.

In April this year, he declared the Albanese government “committed to an advice industry with strong professional standards”, one that “gives Australians access to high quality financial advice”.

As if in defence of his tardiness, the minister said that his best efforts had been made “more difficult” by the “previous government’s mishandling” of the new education and qualification framework.

But as someone vying for the role of Financial Services Minister, it’s reasonable to assume that Mr Jones was aware of the previous government’s track record before he took on the coveted position. I would hope that he understood the reasons behind the industry’s “hot mess” when he declared that if Labor were to win the election, it would implement the experience pathway “pretty quickly”.

“Sworn in, consultation process, let’s get this done,” Mr Jones said in May last year.

And then we come to the QAR.

The 267-page final report that Mr Jones has remained silent on for approximately 137 days.

The same report that could arguably help Mr Jones fix that very “hot mess” he swore he would clean up in the first three months of taking office.

But aside from dropping a few teasers during the previously mentioned Conexus events, Mr Jones has kept advisers completely in the dark.

Although the financial services industry has shown significant support for a majority of the QAR recommendations, with only the odd consumer group directing some fairly stern and questionable words towards Ms Levy, Mr Jones has merely declared a review of the review — a consultation of Ms Levy’s recommendations with an unknown audience.

Before you go labelling Ms Levy a Liberal government appointee, it’s worth noting that in June, Mr Jones himself issued a statement expressing his full support for Ms Levy, the review, and welcomed the “important opportunity” it presented to “streamline and simplify the regulatory settings for financial advice”.

Ms Levy has now issued an open letter in the hope that it might encourage the minister to act soon.

In the letter, she reminds the minister that while he is “road-testing” the recommendations, many Australians are struggling with significant debts, difficulties in saving for a home or paying rent, and are facing challenges with their mortgages.

“Financial advice cannot solve these problems, but it can help people make sensible financial decisions and those decisions should mean they are in a better financial position than they would be without advice,” Ms Levy wrote.

Unfortunately, most of us anticipate that the next time Mr Jones speaks, it will be to declare that there are more pressing issues on the legislative agenda than advice-related problems.

However, what we truly desire is to know why the minister has reneged on his pre-election promise and to receive a definite timeline for when, or if, he intends to issue a public response to Ms Levy’s recommendations.

And while the 15,860 strong advice industry may not be large enough to sway the vote, we would like to remind the minister that the QAR has the potential to benefit millions of Australians, who can undoubtedly have a significant impact on the vote.

As I’ve previously suggested, if Mr Jones wants to keep advisers onside, he will need to start communicating with them directly and without delay. Otherwise, he may find that the industry’s patience wears thin, and his words fall on deaf ears.