Cormann: No government is going to mandate people to access a service that they don’t value. Ultimately the market will play itself out, as it always does, between the demand for service and supply for service – and clearly, if there are suppliers of services that want to provide a service for which there’s no demand the market is going to sort that out very quickly.
Our job as Opposition is to scrutinise whether what the Government is putting on the table is actually going to deliver what they say it will deliver, and to the extent that [it is] good policy, we’ll support it; to the extent they’re putting forward bad policy, we’ll oppose it. And you’ve got other people in the Parliament who join us in our judgements, obviously, given that we’ve got a minority Government. The Government may or may not be able to get some of this stuff through the Parliament.
“I think it’s a good journey that the industry’s on, and it’s one that should continue”
Tucker: Advice and the arrangement of advice is still not tax deductible. I was wondering what your view on or policy was around the tax deductibility?
Cormann: I’m not in position to give you a policy announcement around tax deductibility. In the lead-up to the next election we’ll be making judgements on all these sorts of ideas that are floating around.
We will have a very clear policy in relation to all these issues as we get closer to the next election, when we know what the Budget position is. I’m not going to be able to make promises now, around tax deductibility of advice or other things, until we actually know what cards we’re dealing with.
Our policy instinct is providing support to Australians taking responsibility for their own financial future. Our policy instinct is to encourage people to take responsibility for their financial future and to the extent that we can provide incentives to help that happen, then obviously that’s what we’d be looking for. But what specifically we can do is going to be dependent on what the budget position’s going to be.
Rantall: With discussions with Government, the concept of enshrining the term “financial planner” in law – such that consumers know when they’re going to see a financial planner that they are a member of an approved professional association, and sign up to a code of ethics and a professional framework that goes with that – we believe is one of the most important ways we can ensure consumer protection. Your thoughts, and comments around that?
Cormann: In principle I think it’s a good idea. I mean, obviously you’d have to talk through some of the practical implications of that, and how that would work, at the practical end. But in principle it’s a good idea; it’s one of the steps towards increased professionalisation of the financial advice industry, so I think it’s a good journey that the industry’s on, and it’s one that should continue. That could be one of the steps.
