Labor MP pledges to address advice industry in ‘meltdown’

During a keynote at the Responsible Investment Association Australasia’s (RIAA) RI Summit on Thursday, 7 April, Stephen Jones said that, along with cyber crime and the payments system, the Labor party has identified the advice sector as a top priority, which he said is in “meltdown”.

“Poorly managed change on behalf of the government, huge gaps that exist and I think there’s an urgent job of what to be done in that area,” he said.

Mr Jones said an Albanese government would pledge “stability and certainty” for the financial services industry and would allow the current regulation imposed on the sector to be “digested”.

“That means giving the sector some room to breathing space to do that,” he said.

“We don’t need the sector looking over it’s shoulder for the next regulatory hit to come from a government. What you need to be doing is focusing on the interests of the people that you invest on behalf of.”

Mr Jones’ comments come after a recent appearance on the ifa Show podcast, in which he promised to overturn current education requirements for the advice industry, saying Labor would not require advisers with 10 years of experience and an “unblemished record” to complete a university degree to practice.

Currently, existing advisers with no degree must have an approved qualification by 1 January 2026.

“Let's take a step back and say, ‘let's do some recognition of their prior learning and experience, not a Mickey mouse job’. So we'll do it properly,” Mr Jones said on the podcast.

“There's been some concern in the sector for everyone who's done the degree that, ‘That was a waste of time for me when somebody else is going to get a free ride?’

“We're not saying it's a proper recognition of your professional experience and qualifications so that you can jump through the right hook for you in a way that is good for you, but safe for the people you're advising.”

On the same episode, the shadow assistant treasurer gave a candid assessment of the financial services industry, labelling the poorly managed “tsunami of regulatory changes” as the main culprit for adviser exodus in Australia.

“There was a whole bunch of changes that were in play, there was a known timeline for it, not going back months or even years. Some of this stuff has been five, six years in the making, how a government could monumentally mishandle a bunch of this stuff is beyond belief, particularly a government that says it's a good economic manager."

Listen to the full podcast with Mr Jones here.

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.