LIF opponents target AFA Conference

The board of the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) is facing push-back at the organisation's national conference in Canberra in October over the organisation's perceived handling of the Life Insurance Framework (LIF).

The board last week urged members not to support a call for an extraordinary general meeting (AGM) to pursue a constitutional change around the organisation's future handling of issues such as the processes which gave rise to the LIF.

Amid suggestions by some advisers that there was insufficient consultation around the issue, there are now suggestions that those concerned about the AFA board's attitude to an EGM should voice their position at the organisation's conference.

While the AFA board has pointed to the level of internal consultation which occurred around the Trowbridge and LIF processes, advisers have pointed to overseas experience, including New Zealand, where a more formal mechanism was pursued.

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The AFA board last week rejected calls for an EGM pursuing constitutional change, with the organisation's president, Deborah Kent, warning such a resolution risked stifling the voice of the AFA in policy issues in circumstances where there was little scope for reversing a LIF that was supported by both the Government and the Opposition.

"The proposed change would mean the AFA Board would not be able to form any policy position, or negotiate any policy position with Government, other associations or consumer interest groups, without calling a general meeting and conducting a member vote," Kent said.

She said the call for the proposed constitutional change appeared to have been motivated by the adviser's perception that the AFA did not adequately consult members on the LIF — something which was wrong and misguided.