Jones talks of ‘squaring’ super advice delivery

Mike Taylor

Managing Editor and Publisher

17 April 2023

The Federal Government has signalled that there is absolutely no certainty about it adopting the type of “good advice” financial planning framework recommended in the final report of the Quality of Advice Review.

However, it has made clearer that it continues to see merit in removing the legislative and regulatory obstacles to superannuation funds being a primary conduit for the delivery of financial advice.

The Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones sent a clear message last week that the Government is not going to be locked in to the QAR and may in fact look at other options.

Participating in a webinar conducted by Industry Super Australia (ISA), Jones was asked whether the Government what the Government was going to do with respect to the QAR recommending good advice instead of the current best interest duty.

Jones made clear that the Government was not going to be in the business of attaching itself to what represented on of the core recommendations of the QAR final report.

“I’m not sure whether we adopt that framework, or whether we look at other propositions,” the minister said. “But what I know is this – there are 5 million Australians today who are either at or approaching retirement, they’ve got more money in their superannuation accounts than ever before in their lives. I think it’s a courageous person who would say they either know what to do with it.”

“There are 16,000 licensed financial advisors in the country. So, the numbers don’t square. So, we’ve got to find a way to deliver information and advice to members who are approaching retirement.”

“Whether you like it or not one of the first phone numbers that they call is their superannuation fund,” he said.

“At the moment, [the] law that has partly been passed by the previous Parliament, supported by me, puts an obligation on funds to put in place a strategy for their members for their retirement phase.”

“And at the very same moment, we put in all of these obstacles, which make it almost impossible for the funds to do anything about that. So, I’m keen on squaring that off,” Jones said.