‘Value the aspiration’: 30k adviser goal welcomed, but action imperative

Speaking at Momentum Media’s Election 2025 event on Thursday, shadow treasurer Angus Taylor announced that a future Dutton government would make it a priority to rebuild the financial advice industry by targeting 30,000 registered advisers.

Commenting on the announcement at Thursday’s event, the CEO of the FAAA, Sarah Abood said: “We value the aspiration, we value the licence to get there, but there’s also an imperative to act.”

Abood said the target, nearly double today’s adviser headcount, is achievable, but only if longstanding bottlenecks such as education hurdles and professional year placement shortages are addressed.

“I talk to students regularly who have completed qualifying degrees but can’t find a professional year placement. That’s somewhere where the government could really help,” Abood said.

“We’ve suggested a $10,000 payment to the host of a professional year candidate to recognise that there is a lot of cost and time and risk involved in training people.”

The CEO said the FAAA is also calling for streamlined recognition of offshore qualifications and a reduction in the cost of the adviser exam.

“Right now one of the barriers to entry is the cost of the exam, it’s $1,500. That’s a lot of money for a student, particularly one that might not be supported at the time by an employer. We’ve asked for the exam to be free,” Abood said.

FSC chief executive Blake Briggs also welcomed the Coalition’s vision, noting strong business fundamentals and growing platform competition as signs of a sector ready to scale.

“The economics of running an advice business are very good and they’re only going to get better,” Briggs said, adding that a healthy level of competition among platform providers is driving greater support for advisers.

“That’s a really healthy dynamic market. The missing link there is the education standards piece. If we get that right, you have the economic incentive for people to join the industry, and you have a cohort of advice businesses who are really keen to recruit and train up a new generation of advisers”.

The Coalition’s proposal to essentially double the adviser headcount includes embedding a numerical adviser target in ASIC’s statement of expectations, a first for the financial services regulator.

“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 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.”

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

Taylor said a future Dutton government would also reform education requirements to make it easier for new entrants to join the profession, without compromising quality.

Shadow financial services minister Luke Howarth, also speaking on Thursday morning, reiterated the 30,000 goal, calling it a “north star” for future advice reform, though he conceded that a timeframe on reaching it has not been set.

“Setting the target acknowledges the collapse in adviser numbers due to excessive regulation and red tape,” Howarth said.

“We know that ultimately fewer advisers means advice is becoming less affordable and accessible for Australians that need it most.”

Also speaking at the event, Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones said the cost of entering the advice profession would be halved under Labor’s proposed reforms to the adviser education framework. However, he stopped short of setting a specific target for adviser numbers should Labor win the May election.