Senator slams FASEA as ‘abject failure’ by government

Speaking in Parliament this week while debating the government’s Better Advice bill, senator Katy Gallagher blasted the standards authority, introduced by Prime Minister Scott Morrison in 2017 while Treasurer, and is set to be wound up at the end of the year.

“Labor has always been supportive of reforms and initiatives that support a professional consumer focused financial advice and services industry, but FASEA stands out as an abject failure in public policy and in administration,” Senator Gallagher said.

“They went through three CEOs in their first 18 months. They failed to produce standards that were in any way timely or done in an adequate fashion. Advisers were subjected to changes and complications to the exam process.

“When it comes to these advisers, and I had the opportunity to speak to a few of them recently, it’s astounding how the government has been treating them, particularly in the design and implementation of professional standards and how this will potentially impact on experienced advisers who may be forced out of the industry, taking away their many years of knowledge about how best to serve their clients.”

It comes after Synchron chair Michael Harrison claimed that older advisers are leaving the industry because of FASEA’s lack of recognition of prior studies.

The Better Advice bill – which will expand the role of ASIC’s existing financial services and credit panel to operate as the single disciplinary body for financial advisers and creates new penalties for advisers who breach their professional obligations – is set to come into effect on 1 January 2022.

Consultation with government on the legislation is open now and closes on Friday, 20 August.

Neil Griffiths

Neil is the Deputy Editor of the wealth titles, including ifa and InvestorDaily.

Neil is also the host of the ifa show podcast.