Opposition blasts government ‘failure’ on FASEA

Addressing the Stockbrokers and Financial Advisers Association virtual conference on Friday, shadow financial services minister Stephen Jones said the administrative and leadership issues that had plagued the authority for the past few years should be “visited home” directly to Scott Morrison, who was Treasurer at the time FASEA was created.

“An organisation that has had three CEOs in two years, that is a clear indication that there’s something wrong – alarm bells were going off and weren’t being listened to, and now we’re having this problem in the sector,” Mr Jones said.

“That’s got to be visited home on the PM and Treasurer, who were overseeing the implementation of FASEA. They have failed in their duty and advisers are paying the price for that.”

Mr Jones said while Labor was supportive of raising educational standards and the quality of advice, the process had been “mishandled” by the Coalition, causing unnecessary anxiety among practitioners.

“We believe the Coalition has failed on implementing these changes, and the stress that has been experienced within the advice sector is a product of that mishandling,” he said.

“They built FASEA from the ground up, and the under-resourcing and lack of ministerial direction or discretion has meant there has been so many problems with the rollout of qualifications and accreditation [of courses].”

In an earlier session on Friday, Assistant Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and Fintech Jane Hume sought to distance the Coalition from FASEA’s operational problems, saying the authority was not answerable to the government.

“I’d love to be able to say I can direct FASEA but I can’t. No one can direct FASEA, FASEA is an independent statutory body. And it was set up that way intentionally,” Ms Hume said.

“They don’t take direction from government, so they’re responsible for those standards. I think it’s really important that the industry voice their opinion on those standards and how workable they might be directly to FASEA in any way that it possibly can … whether it be the guidance notes or the standards themselves, I think that it’s really important to get this right.”