Consumer advocacy guide Choice has welcomed the recommendation from Treasurer Josh Frydenberg that the implementation of the Royal Commission findings be deferred for six months.
The implementation of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry was deferred last week to allow firms to deal with the economic fall-out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Recommendations due in June would be deferred until December while those which had been due in December would be deferred until 30 June, 2021.
Responding to the news, Choice chief executive Alan Kirkland, said the decision “struck a sensible balance”.
“A six-month deferral strikes a sensible balance between recognising the reality of these unprecedented circumstances and the need to legislate reforms to protect consumers, who will need this even more in the coming months,” he said.
“We look forward to working with the Government to finalise the remaining reforms as soon as possible.”
Comments
Alan Kirkland has no right to make any comment regarding financial services regulation at all.
This is a clear indication that Choice see themselves as a political influencer and activist organisation with a skewed agenda.
It is interesting how the ABC seem to give Alan Kirkland a lot of air time and coverage....perhaps this is their strategy to deliver " unbiased " reporting without being seen as biased ?
The ABC are masters of the subliminal messaging technique.
Choice ceased being a consumer group about 10 years ago when Zinn took over. They have transformed into a fringe political activist group. Unfortunately consumers have been left with no-one to represent their real interests. The govt needs to remove Choice from all govt committees and boards, and cut off their funding. Hopefully a real consumer group will emerge in their place.
ASIC, Choice, & ABC are all heavily controlled by ideological zealots who are out of touch with mainstream Australia.
“We look forward to working with the Government to finalise the remaining reforms as soon as possible.”
Why the f*** is this group allowed to work with government? They don't have a clue about financial planning, and are a reason less people get advice now due to rising compliance costs. Maybe the government should work with Advisers to actually understand the industry and set policy that works.
In Alan's illustrious career he spent a total of only 11 months being self employed.
It's no wonder he has absolutely no understanding whatsoever of what it takes to operate a small business and the overwhelming ad destructive impact of the cost of duplicate compliance requirements and the detrimental effect that has on the cost to the consumer.
He seems to be oblivious to the fact that the consumer will in fact be worse off, not better off.......and he represents an organisation that is meant to represent consumers.
This is because Choice are no longer a consumer organisation , but an activist player based on ideology.
They have a hatred of insurance commissions, a hatred of asset based fees, a hatred of higher fees for complex and detailed work by advisers and a hatred of advisers.
I would not be at all surprised if Alan Kirkland and Gerard Brody from the Consumer Action Law Centre don't have lunch together regularly to discuss strategy.
Same brush, same mold, same agenda.
I think he has a hatred of anyone who is self-employed and successful. he couldn't cut it being self-employed because he is useless so he is having a go at anyone who is successfully self-employed.
the guy is a total idiot, during the peak of the covid -19 he was on telly saying, the value of health insurance benefits is dubious and that Australians should cancel their health insurance.
this organisation makes reckless statements endangering lives.
this guy should be discredited as a total nutter. I can't believe asic is listening to this fool
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