Australia's key financial services organisations are remaining vigilant on the Parliament's handling of the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) bills despite assurances that the legislation will not be brought on for debate until after the Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) report.
Their vigilance is based on Federal Opposition concern that a draft forward program of bills to be debated in the Parliament had scheduled the FOFA bills for debate two weeks before the PJC is scheduled to hand down its report, and well before a report from the Senate Economics Committee.
The release of the draft forward program for bills prompted the Shadow Financial Services Minister, Senator Mathias Cormann, to say he would be seeking the support of the independents in the House of Representatives to delay debate on the bills until after the PJC report.
In the aftermath of Cormann's statement and serious concerns expressed by key players in the financial planning industry, Financial Services Minister Bill Shorten's office indicated the draft forward program was in error and that the bills would not be debated until a later date.
Both the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) expressed concern at Friday's suggestions that the FOFA bills might be debated in the Parliament ahead of the PJC.
Both organisations urged that debate around the bills be delayed until due parliamentary process had been followed with respect to both the PJC findings and those of the Senate Committee.
