Labor votes down FOFA amendments
The Federal Opposition has voted down in the Senate the amendments to the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) legislation after protracted debate and procedural wrangling which occupied most of yesterday's sitting time.
The FOFA amendment regulations, which were due to be voted on by 27 November at the latest, were voted down by 32 votes to 30 after the Labor Party secured the support of Palmer United Party Senator Jacqui Lambie and Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party Senator Ricky Muir on Tuesday night.
Their votes combined with those of Labor, the Greens and independent Senators Nick Xenophon and John Madigan were sufficient to reset the FOFA landscape back to the shape it held when the legislation was first introduced into Federal Parliament in June 2013 under the previous Gillard Government.
The disallowance vote took place at 7:37pm on Wednesday and followed a protracted morning session of the Senate and in which Labour attempted to suspend standing orders and introduce the vote to disallow the amendments.
This was blocked by the Government with Labor reintroducing the motion during question time at 2:30pm and setting off a lengthy debate which culminated in the vote.
Senator Lambie and Muir were previously involved in a deal to support the FOFA amendments and were called on by Liberal Senators throughout proceedings to explain their decision to vote against the amendments.
Lambie stated her decision to change her vote was based on consultation with "people bodies like the National Seniors, and consumer advocates like Choice".
Muir defended his decision by stating he had also spoken with consumer groups and investors who had suffered losses and believed the changes to FOFA needed to be brought to Parliament in the form of legislation, and bot via regulation, and thus subject to full debate.
"I am not interested in hearing about whether the government thinks this is all about the industry super funds and the union movement, nor am I interested in hearing about whether the opposition think this all about keeping the big banks happy," Muir said.
"What I am interested in is protecting consumers and protecting my constituents. This disallowance motion ensures that any proposed changes to financial advice laws that impact on consumers are properly scrutinised by the parliament."
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