The Federal Opposition has called on the Minister for Financial Services, Bill Shorten, to accept the dissenting report emerging from the Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) reviewing the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) bills, arguing that any other course would lead to flawed legislation.
However the Industry Super Network (ISN) has welcomed the Government report from the PJC, with ISN chief executive David Whiteley claiming the report "outlines a set of moderate and balanced recommendations which will help ensure that the reforms deliver a range of benefits to both the industry and consumers".
At the same time, Whiteley supported flexibility around implementation of the legislation, noting "a certain degree of latitude and flexibility should be permitted regarding legislative implementation dates to give the industry time to accommodate the reform".
However he warned that there was "no need for wholesale delay in implementation".
The Opposition spokesman on Financial Services, Senator Mathias Cormann, urged the Government to accept the recommendations contained in the dissenting report, saying that if Shorten was not prepared to take the initiative himself to fix them "then the Parliament should force him to".
Minister Shorten should seriously consider the dissenting report’s recommendations, take the initiative and act on them," he said.
For its part, the SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) acknowledged some "promising aspects" to the Government’s PJC report but argued that further changes were necessary.
In particular, SPAA chief executive Andrea Slattery called for further clarity around scaled advice and more discussion on annual fee disclosure statements.
