AFA News 5 August 2021. On Friday 30 July 2021, the Senate Economics Committee released their report following the inquiry into the Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response—Better Advice) Bill 2021. Whilst the Committee heard a lot of feedback about concerns with the cost of the Single Disciplinary Body and the unnecessary duplication with the training and education requirements for tax (financial) advisers, the Committee limited their recommendations to a review being conducted two years after commencement.
The AFA appeared at the Senate Economics Committee hearing on 16 July 2021 and made a supplementary submission to the Committee highlighting our concerns and setting out specific recommendations on how to modify the legislation to address our concerns. In the absence of a Regulation Impact Statement, in our supplementary submission, we produced a high-level estimate of the potential cost of the Single Disciplinary Body under different scenarios. We believe that the SDB will have a significant impact upon the already excessive ASIC Funding Levy once the body is up and running.
The Better Advice Bill was debated in the House of Representatives on Wednesday 4 August 2021, and after some vigorous debate, it was passed without amendment. Speaker after speaker spoke about the crisis in financial advice and the implications of reduced access to advice and the escalating cost of financial advice. Whilst this was discussed by a number of speakers, there were no solutions put forward to fix the current problem. This is now clearly an issue that the Government must address.
Please click here to see the AFA’s supplementary submission to the Senate Economics Committee Inquiry on the Better Advice Bill.
Please click here to see the final report by the Senate Economics Committee.
For any feedback on the Single Disciplinary Body, please email policy@afa.asn.au
Issued 05.08.2021. AFA Policy & Education Update
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