10 months of Treasury consultation responses remain unpublished

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor and Publisher

15 May 2026

The Department of Treasury has conducted more than 60 consultations over the past 12 months, eight of which have significant implications for the financial services industry but stakeholder submissions on all but one of those consultations remain unpublished.

The tenor of stakeholder submissions filed in response to Government consultations is important because it allows readers to judge the degree to which policy is based on industry and sector feedback.

An audit of the Consultations section on the Treasury web site reveals that the last consultation issue about which Treasury published stakeholder submissions was that applying to “Reform of non-compete clauses and other restraints on workers” which closed to submissions in September, last year.

After that, financial advisers and others looking to gauge sector sentiment on issues such as “Best practice principles – superannuation retirement income solutions” or “Retirement reporting” would have been out of luck.

Even on the critical issue of “Compensation Scheme of Last Resort – exceeding the sub-sector levy cap” stakeholder submissions remain off-limits as do the scores which were submitted to Treasury as part of the Pre-Budget submission process.

On the critical adviser issue of the “Compensation Scheme of Last Resort – enhancing professional indemnity insurance” submissions remain behind the Treasury firewall along with those pertaining to the “Treasury Laws Amendment (Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions) Bill 2025 and “Enhancing member protections in the superannuation system”.

Also unobtainable thus far are the ongoing submissions being filed with respect to “Compensation Scheme of Last Resort – reform options to support ongoing sustainability”.

Conventionally, publication of the submissions by Treasury is at the discretion of the relevant minister and that discretion appears yet to be exercised.

Of course, the industry stakeholders filing submissions in response to the Treasury consultations have always been free to make their views public via self-publication.