FASEA board member responds to critics

Last week, ifa reported that a number of members within the independent and non-aligned advice community have raised concerns that the FASEA board unveiled by the federal government in April is not able to properly represent their interests due to ties with the financial institutions.

While former FPA chair Matthew Rowe and former AFA president Deborah Kent – the two FASEA members representing the “industry” within the board’s membership – both declined to comment, fellow board member Mark Brimble told ifa that critics misunderstand the body’s intent.

Dr Brimble said that there's “probably a range of elements of the sector that say they’re not represented”, but said the point of FASEA is not to advocate or represent for the industry’s interests.

“The legislation that formed the board has pretty specific categories of backgrounds that the board directors meet – there’s the one ethicist, the one academic, the three consumer representatives and the three from the industry and the chair,” he explained.

“While it doesn't leave scope for every particular machination of the industry to be represented, I don't think it was the government's intention for the board to be a representative working party that had lots and lots of people on there.”

Adviser Chris Morcom of Hewison Private Wealth described Dr Brimble as a “pre-eminent educator” and said the Griffith University academic has a “wealth of experience that can be leveraged by the board”.