Past adviser enemies. The AIOFP.

Hi, with the major political parties expected to go into ‘re- election mode’ shortly, it is time to analyse what has happened over the last 10 years and assess whether the same Advice community threats and adversaries still exist.

Like any past battle or feud, we must know who our enemies have been, assess whether they are still a threat and if so, put strategies in place to neutralise or combat them.

We think there is some great news evolving for the Advice community going forward and encourage any Adviser contemplating exiting the industry due to the past nightmare conditions to rethink their strategy.

It is important however we never forget the details of historical events that has harmed the Advice community…….WHY?…..history has a bad habit of repeating itself.

We should not get confused with what FOFA changes were implemented pre 2012 under an ALP Government and what happened post 2013 under the Coalition Abbott/Turnbull/Morrison Governments until May 2022, this differentiation is critical to ensure this heinous incursion never happens again.

Briefly, FOFA banned product commissions, retained risk commissions, grandfathered trailing commission and implemented a best interests duty, despite the initial shock, a fair outcome for consumers and the Advice community. This grew out of the Bernie Ripoll Enquiry into Storm Financial and then executed by Minister Shorten.

The successive Coalition Governments from late 2013 clearly had an agenda to ‘cull’ advisers under an authoritarian regime controlled by Josh Frydenberg and delivered by Chief of Staff Martin Codina. It is fair to say that former Ministers Kelly O’Dwyer and Jane Hume were operating under strict orders from Frydenberg until the very end and should not be held responsible for the specific details. Current Treasury spokesperson Angus Taylor was not linked to the circumstances at any point.

The LIF, FASEA, Compliance fiasco and Grandfathering ban were designed to starve, frustrate and intimidate Advisers out of the industry aided by the political backing of the FSC, FPA and AFA.

Unfortunately, very few Government initiatives have worked as ruthlessly well as this particular program. This was not a Canberra Bureaucratic play, it was a clinically and surgically delivered initiative by a ruthless team seconded from the Financial Services industry with a clear intent to remove Advisers from the client relationship and the industry – they knew where to place the knife and twist it.

The good news for the Advice community is most of these past adversaries have departed the industry and are no longer a direct threat, here is a summary of their fate –

• Frydenberg lost his seat of Kooyong and is now into Banking.
• Codina was parachuted into the funds management industry.
• O’Dywer left politics in 2019,
• Hume is out of the Treasury portfolio.
• FPA/AFA were exposed and self – imploded.
• The only one left is the FSC who has lost its Life Office members to CALI over the LIF outrage.

We cannot understand why any Adviser would want to be a member of the FSC, they are funded by the Financial Institutions and have been using Adviser political capital against Advisers to their detriment for decades.

We have some further great news for the Advice community. Both Shadow Treasury spokesperson Hon Angas Taylor and Minister Stephen Jones have agreed to address members at our upcoming Canberra conference where our 5 preferred issues will be presented and discussed.

We are hoping to get bipartisan approval leading into the 2025 election for the following –

1. Consent, FDS and annual Opt – in forms to be abolished.
2. Advisers to use professional judgement on the size and content of a compulsory Financial Advice document to clients.
3. FASEA Exam content to be relevant and specific to an Adviser’s skills.  
4. ASIC Levy to be assessed by an independent party and Advice fees to be tax deductible.
5. Risk commission conditions to be returned to pre LIF levels.

Minister Stephen Jones will be addressing members at the Thursday evening dinner at Lake George Winery and Shadow Treasury Spokesperson Angas Taylor on Friday at the Rex Hotel. In addition, we have ASIC, AFCA and Choice on a Wednesday panel and ALP National President and former Treasurer Wayne Swan as a Thursday lunch keynote Guest Speaker.

If new clients are your passion we will be revealing a program with 6 new entities you may wish to get involved with along with other very interesting guest speakers including presentations from members.

This is not the Conference to miss, on Friday we must hand back any surplus rooms to the hotel and provide numbers for the functions, if you are intending on joining us please register on line.