Shadow treasurer puts financial advice at heart of Coalition’s economic revival plan

The financial services sector will be integral to Australia’s economic resilience and future prosperity, according to shadow treasurer Angus Taylor, who has pledged a sweeping restoration of the financial advice profession under a Coalition government.

Speaking at Momentum Media’s Election 2025 event on Thursday, Taylor said the role of financial advisers was “absolutely central” to the Coalition’s economic blueprint and essential in guiding Australians through an increasingly volatile global environment.

“In tumultuous times, advice really counts. Insurance really counts. Access to credit really counts,” Taylor said. “Australians are underbanked, underadvised and underinsured, and that has to change.”

Positioning the industry as a key pillar of national policy, the shadow treasurer acknowledged the “collapse” in adviser numbers in recent years, a trend he said must be reversed if Australia is to maintain a resilient, well-prepared household sector.

“We will make a priority for the future Dutton government a target to rebuild the financial advice industry to 30,000 advisers,” Taylor said.

“This is crucially important. This won't be just optics or words; this will be driven down into the way we want our regulator and regulation of this industry to work.”

Taylor flagged a decisive shift in regulatory posture and revealed that a Coalition government would embed a numerical target for adviser growth within ASIC’s statement of expectations – a move designed to hold the regulator accountable not just for oversight, but for enabling the sector’s success.

“The numeric target will be embedded in the ASIC statement of expectations,” he said.

“ASIC and the other regulators have traditionally seen their statement of expectations, what is expected of them by government, as just focused on managing risk, adding regulation and bureaucracy. But the sector they’re overseeing has to succeed, that has to work for Australians and has to ensure that Australian investments are stewarded in an appropriate way.”

“We need to make sure we get the sector back to where it needs to be, which we believe is 30,000 advisers.”

As part of the revival plan, Taylor said the Coalition would reform education standards to encourage new entrants into the profession.

He also pledged to introduce legislation to implement the Quality of Advice Review within the first 100 days of a Coalition government.

“We know there are things to be worked through … We will push through this legislation quickly, it needs to be sorted out,” he said.

Moreover, the shadow treasurer pledged to review ongoing fee arrangements and life insurance commissions – a move that stands in contrast to outgoing Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones, who earlier in the day ruled out such a review under Labor.

“We will do it, we are very aware of the fact that right now we are out of line with global standards and global benchmarks, and we are seeing an insurance industry that is going backwards at a time when Australians need to be insured,” he said.

The shadow treasurer also vowed to “fix the CSLR’s costs, making it fair and sustainable”, criticising the current fee structure as “onerous”.

“We're conscious of the fact that this has been a big impost on your industry,” he told advisers in the room, adding that the cost of supporting the scheme was “preventing people from serving their clients” and “making it harder”.

More broadly, Taylor said financial services were the “arteries of the economy”.

“They are essential to starting a business, buying a home, building prosperity, and getting through retirement,” he said.

Overall, Taylor’s speech underscored a broader election theme for the opposition: economic credibility. He suggested that voters faced a fundamental choice in the coming weeks about who they trusted to steer the economy through global instability.

“We’re three weeks out from an election, and I believe this is the key issue,” he said, underscoring the message that the system cannot function without financial advice at its core.