Jones bungling the Quality of Advice Review

It has taken Stephen Jones 12 months to release a policy to cut the cost of financial advice.

At this rate, the Australian people will not receive access to cheaper advice in the life of this Parliament.

The final report of the Quality of Advice Review, conducted by independent reviewer Ms Michelle Levy, was received by Jones last December. It has taken him over 6 months to provide a response.

Instead of being Jones in the fast lane. He is Jones in the slow lane.

Accordingly, we received three stages or ‘streams’ of implementing these reforms.

The first stage of reforms will not be enacted until 2024 at the earliest. The second and third stages provide limited details on how or when these reforms will be implemented. If Jones was serious he would have released a full roadmap and an accelerated timetable, not scant details.

By failing to implement these reforms, the cost of financial advice will remain high. The costs are locked into the Corporations Act which no media release can relieve.

No interim measures have been suggested to reduce these costs in the short term. For many Australians, the cost of advice remains unaffordable.

Jones is failing consumers.

The Government should be seeking competitive neutrality, not driving regulatory arbitrage to support their favourite vested interests. Sadly on brand, Jones has used Levy’s report to further empower their vested interests in the major super funds.

Jones has misunderstood the purpose of the Quality of Advice Review. It was about improving consumer access to quality financial advice, not expanding the scope of influence of the big super funds.

The Government should be aiming to deliver the reforms in total by the end of this year.