Jones supports Dixon inquiry as CSLR shapes up as election battleground

During a webinar hosted by the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) on Tuesday, Phil Anderson, the association’s general manager of policy, advocacy, and standards, emphasised that Minister Stephen Jones has developed a greater understanding of the advice profession’s concerns regarding the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR).

ifa reported on Tuesday that the CEO of the FAAA noted a positive shift in Jones’ attitude during their recent meeting, reflecting his increased willingness to tackle industry challenges.

Later that day, Anderson further elaborated that the meeting with Jones took place on 14 August, during which Jones recognised the urgent need for action.

“The minister was open with us; he accepted that there was a problem, he knew it needed to be addressed, he just made it clear that he had no immediate lever to pull,” Anderson said.

“However, he did agree to the establishment of a working group where the FAAA is working with Treasury. We’ve already identified a list of suggestions; we’ve put those proposals to them.”

Anderson also shared that during the August meeting, they discussed the public inquiry, receiving broad support from Jones.

“We got his broad support that he would be happy to have that happen,” he said.

The general manager also emphasised that the advice community has a valuable opportunity to leverage this issue as the federal election approaches.

“We want to make sure that it can play a role when we get to the election next year about what each side of politics is going to do to fix it,” he said.

Last week, it was revealed that the economics references committee will scrutinise the collapse of Dixon Advisory and its impact on the CSLR after a motion moved in the Senate by Senator Pauline Hanson secured cross-Parliament support.

The FAAA has been advocating for an inquiry since earlier this year, pressuring politicians through a letter-writing campaign that resulted in 2,827 letters sent to MPs across all parties and 21 meetings with lawmakers.

Anderson explained that the inquiry is key for uncovering the truth behind the Dixon Advisory collapse, exposing significant design flaws in the CSLR and probing the Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s (ASIC) role in the debacle.

“We want to make it really clear how unjust this is for this to be charged to the advice profession,” Anderson said.

“And we want to ultimately have this inquiry identify the changes that are needed to fix the problem.”

E&P won’t escape scrutiny with delisting

Also on Tuesday, the parent company of the collapsed Dixon Advisory, E&P Financial Group, announced it is seeking to delist from the ASX after unspecified regulatory proceedings significantly impacted its share price.

E&P acknowledged the Senate inquiry in its ASX filing, stating: “The motion is relevant to E&P as it references E&P subsidiary Dixon Advisory & Superannuation Services Pty Limited as an example”.

But it added that the company has “no further detail on the proposed inquiry and is unaware of the extent to which it may or may not be involved in the inquiry”.

Commenting on E&P’s ASX exit, Anderson said he doesn’t think E&P will manage to escape scrutiny by pursuing this move.

“I don’t think they’ll avoid scrutiny. I think there will be less scrutiny going forward if they’re not required to report to the ASX, but in terms of this parliamentary inquiry, it doesn’t matter if they’re listed or not,” Anderson said.

“The Senate economics committee will be having a close look at the action of Dixon Advisory and therefore their parent company E&P Financial Group.”

The inquiry is scheduled to report by the last sitting day of March 2025.