AIOFP. MINISTER MULINO MEETING – 10/12/25

Hi, yesterday Lionel Rodrigues, Nathan Rees and myself met with the Minister and his new Chief of Staff Jim Round in Sydney. 

We all thought it was one of the better meetings we have had with Ministers over the years and we all think our Profession is in safe hands – both understand the dynamics of the financial services landscape and where our Profession fits in.

It was opportunistic we had our meeting directly after the CSLR announcement on Tuesday 9/12/26 which allowed us to ask all the right questions and get the facts.

Here is a summary and Lionel’s views below –

• The Minister is committed to including ALL stakeholders in the funding of the CSLR liabilities BUT had to exclude the Managed Investment Scheme [MIS] participants at this point in time due to the CSLR Legislation. As we all know the MIS funds are the worst cohort for Product failure over the past 30+ years, but how and why are they excluded at this point in time?
• The answer is the very clever work of the FSC, the Financial Institutions Association. When the legislation was in the Senate last year, the MIS cohort was specifically mentioned for exclusion in the Legislation, therefore the Minister cannot include them in the current calculation until CSLR is revamped next year and the legislation is amended to include ALL participants. We look forward to that happening.
• The good news is the Adviser Profession is currently comprising 21% of the liability down from 100% and once the MIS are included it will drop even further. We will be keeping a very close eye on the FSC’s activities to ensure their preferred position does not discriminate the Adviser Profession.
• At this point in time, we see no need to challenge the CSLR in the High Court, the Minister is being very fair with his intentions.

The other issue we discussed was the Education ‘Cliff’ in less than 18 day’s time for up to 3,000 Financial Advisers according to ASIC.

It seems that this issue has taken a ‘back seat’ to CSLR/SHIELD/FIRST GUARDIAN which is understandable in the current environment, but we think the following circumstances may have it back on the immediate agenda –

• ASIC publishing in September that over 3,000 Advisers are yet to submit their details.
• ASIC admitting to IT difficulties with registering Adviser information.
• Former Minister Jones announcing in February his ‘any degree’ policy disrupted study activities and many Advisers lost 6 months in study time.

We are hopeful the Minister will grant a 6 – 12 month extension which will allow us to suggest some other amendments, fingers crossed.

We will keep you informed of any progress.

From: Lionel Rodrigues <lionel@ifmsecurities.com.au>
Sent: Thursday, December 11, 2025 6:20 AM
To: Peter Johnston <pjohnston@aiofp.net.au>
Cc: Ray Bailey <rbailey@aiofp.net.au>; sarath delpachitra <s.delpachitra@gmail.com>
Subject: CSLR Levy

Greetings,

CSLR.

It was a very good meeting with Minister Mulino. He understands the issues in relation to the CSLR and its impact on both consumers and financial services participants.

For the current CSLR shortfall, he intends to introduce a special levy for $47.3 Million across the majority of financial services businesses. The proportion to be levied against the financial advice sub sector is approximately 22%. This will be in addition to the $20 Million already levied on the financial advice subsector.

The exception to the broad based levy on financial services is the Managed Investment Schemes (MIS). These products were excluded in legislation by the former government.

Minister Mulino will look to review this exemption in 2026. Furthermore the Minister indicated that he will undertake a comprehensive structural review of the CSLR in 2026 calling for industry consultation. Such vital interface with industry was not encouraged by the previous Coalition government.

The AIOFP position is that it supports the CSLR, especially not reducing the $150,000 CSLR payment to affected consumers. The AIOFP would agree to a structural review of the CSLR to include all market participants, and supportive of a broad-based funding of the CSLR.

The Association has evidenced that consumer losses have also included significant failed product offerings, notably those involving MIS.

Adviser Education.

The Minister was appreciative of the information provided by the AIOFP delegation as to the impending loss of advisers as a consequence of the 1 January 2026 education deadline.

Minister Mulino is concerned about the loss of professional advisers to serve a growing cohort of consumers who need high quality advice. He undertook to review the situation with ASIC and also give immediate consideration to the concept of any degree” qualification, previously suggested by former minister Stephen Jones in February 2025.

Minister Mulino was left with credible material from ASIC which underscores the regulator’s concerns around the almost 3500 financial advisers who may not meet the education deadline, from a base of approximately 15,500 advisers as recorded by ASIC on 30 September 2025.

Lionel.