Hi, please be advised of our current position –
- We are waiting for a response from the Ministers office on their support for our 4 demands that Shadow Luke Howarth has agreed to, see HOWARTH DELIVERS THE HOLY GRAIL OF THE AIOFP TEN COMMANDMENTS. – AIOFP
- The Minister’s Adviser has promptly responded to our past 2 requests on 8th and 23rd of January informing us that a decision is yet to be made. We will be pushing for a decision within 14 days with February 10th the likely deadline.
- It should be clearly understood that our political strategy is based entirely on Advice policy outcomes that affect our members and their clients, we are not concerned with other political issues.
- A positive response from the Minister will create a bipartisan outcome that should make a significant difference to reducing the cost of advice for consumers and the success of Advice practices.
- Furthermore, if this bipartisan position is achieved, we will be turning our focus on educating and supporting Politicians of all persuasions who understand or want to understand our industry. Over the past 15 years the Advice profession has had very few Politicians in Canberra that understood the ramifications and unintended consequences of legislation that has significantly negatively affected our Profession and consumers – LIF, FASEA, Grandfathered Revenue, Consent Forms, CSLR/Dixons etc comes to mind. Politicians have just ‘blindly’ voted along party lines after influence from the Canberra bureaucrats, clearly this needs to change.
- The only way to change this culture is to have educated Politicians and influence within the political parties, leading into an election is the best time to leverage our position but it takes money well spent to achieve our preferred outcomes.
- Last Wednesday January 22nd we conducted our first 2025 dinner function where we politically and financially supported a very impressive younger Liberal politician in a Melbourne marginal seat who understands our industry. Aaron Violi MP currently holds the seat of Casey and has been educated by member Don Trapnell on our industry, our Profession badly needs Politicians in Canberra like Aaron. We also had Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor speaking – see attached photographs.
- The night was funded by a Corporate who chose to sponsor the AIOFP event and left it up to the discretion of the AIOFP to support Aaron’s campaign. This funding model is used by the Super funds who sponsor Union events and the Union chooses to support their preferred political party.
- Aaron received $12,500 and the AIOFP funded the dinner [around $5,000 for 27 guests] allowing members to attend and network without cost. Unfortunately, the AIOFP cannot continue with funding the dinner expenses at other future events. It was a very successful night where Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor also spoke about their views on our Profession. See attached articles, we are pleased Angus is changing his position on implementing QAR in its entirety. https://www.ifa.com.au/news/35253-no-silver-bullet-to-fixing-advice-taylor, https://www.ifa.com.au/news/35262-taylor-puts-full-range-of-options-on-the-table-for-life-insurance-reform
Also present at the function was the former Liberal Politician Tim Wilson who held the seat of Goldstein until the 2022 election when the Teals were successful. Our Profession needs Politicians of Tim’s ilk in Canberra, Tim is currently completing his Doctorate in Economics, understands our Profession and looking likely to win the seat back. We should support him with a similar function during February/March.
It should be noted that the current swing to the Coalition will allow them to win most Marginal Seats but that will not be enough to govern, they need to win back other seats including the Teals to be ultimately successful.
To summarise, our preference is to orchestrate a BIPARTISAN outcome on the 4 issues, we can then support a range of Parties and individuals who can assist our Profession going forward. If the Minister does not agree then the member vote at our AGM immediately after our Canberra conference dinner where both the Minister and Shadow spoke was unanimously against the Ministers presentation will be noted, this will then dictate our political direction and actions.
The ALP will be considered not acting in the best interests of consumers and the Advice profession if they chose not to support the 4 issues.
The AIOFP Board and Management are requesting all members to consider financially supporting the AIOFP political strategy by increasing membership fees in a one-off contribution that allows you to claim it has a tax deduction for 2024/25. Any decision on monetary support will be decided by the AIOFP Board, disclosed to the Australian Electoral Commission [AEC] and members at the August 2025 Gold Coast Conference and AGM. Please note individual names will not be disclosed, the AIOFP will be the only entity disclosed to the AEC as it is making the donation.
For non – members who wish to support the cause, they can join as AFFILIATE Members for $285.
Shortly you will receive an email from EA Kathy with the relevant forms to participate, we hope you can see merit in supporting our political strategy.
Regards.
Peter Johnston | Executive Director
Association of Independently Owned Financial Professionals
Suite 1211, 1 Queens Road, Melbourne VIC 3004
P 1800 111 203, d 03 9863 7574, m 0418 857 621
www.aiofp.net.au | Download my business card
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