Jones promises Labor will enact experience pathway 'pretty quickly'

Speaking on a recent webinar hosted by Stockbrokers and Investment Advisers Association (SIAA), shadow minister for financial services doubled down on his earlier commitment to fix the “hot mess” that is the advice industry by introducing an ‘experience pathway’.

“We want to put in place a sensible, efficient recognition of prior learning arrangement so that if you’ve been doing the job for ten years, you can continue to be a licensed adviser provided you haven’t got any black marks,” Mr Jones said.

He assured that if appointed Labor “should be able to” enact the experience pathway “pretty quickly”.

“Sworn in, consultation process, let’s get this done.

“We want to make sure it’s in place and up and running,” Mr Jones said.

Questioned about the possibility of a minority government and whether Labor has engaged with independents particularly on issues concerning advisers, Mr Jones admitted to not having done so.

“No, I haven’t in short. And you shouldn’t be worried about that.

“Firstly, I think it’s going to be easier for Anthony Albanese to get to 76 seats in this Parliament at the end of this election period than it will be for Scott Morrison,” Mr Jones said.

But, acknowledging the possibility that his predictions could be wrong, he explained that in the event Labor had to form a government with the support of crossbenchers, a collation agreement would not be on the table.

“If you support us on legislation by legislation fine, but we’re not going to try and get a formal coalition agreement with you.”

Moreover, Mr Jones explained that “all of the things” Labor is contemplating can be done through the existing ministerial powers and regulatory powers.

“No primary legislation would be needed. I’ll take advice on that, but my initial thinking and analysis is that we don’t need primary legislation.

“It would be a disallowable instrument, but I've got to say it'd be a courageous Senate to try to block it,” the shadow minister said.

Earlier this year, joining Momentum Media on an exclusive podcast,Mr Jones criticised the government for “monumentally mishandling” regulatory changes across the financial services industry and vowed to do better if Labor is elected to government.

The shadow minister 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.

“It is just beyond belief the mess that they've created in this sector,” Mr Jones said.