The tiny municipality of Eupen in the Belgian province of Liège may have just 20,000 residents but it is one of their own that Professional Planner Online readers would like to see as Australia’s next Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation.
Recently described by SPAA National Conference MC Andrew Klein as the most famous Belgian in the world after Jean-Claude van Damme, tennis player Kim Clijsters, “the bloke who invented Tintin*” and musician Gotye, Mathias Hubert Paul Cormann garnered 77 per cent of the vote as preferred candidate for the top job.
Just 5 per cent said they would like to see incumbent Minister Bill Shorten stay in the role, with 18 per cent rejecting both.
Few can dispute the 42-year old Cormann’s ability to overcome obstacles and his is a meteoric rise given that he only learnt to speak English in 1993 and worked as a gardener when he arrived in Perth to settle in 1996 – his law degree from the Flemish speaking Catholic University of Louvain not being recognised.
However, the blow in has ruffled some feathers along the way, most notably when winning pre-selection to replace West Australian Senator Ross Lightfoot on the Liberal Party’s Senate ticket in 2007.
At the time, Lightfoot announced his resignation on the ABC’s Stateline program and left few doubts as to his opinion of the ambitious Belgian.
“I think that more appropriate people have served the party longer, who are more appropriate with respect to family values, and who have a track record that’s easily and clearly scrutinised,” he said in a veiled reference to young-gun Cormann who had drawn strong support for pre-selection from within the party.
Lightfoot, of course, was no stranger to controversy himself, being involved in an alleged punch-up with a fellow Liberal, Phil Lockyer, and supporting Western Australia’s secession from the rest of the country.
Track record
If Cormann (right) lacks in experience, he can’t be accused of letting this hold him back and has been one of the opposition’s most effective attack dogs on superannuation and the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reforms.
He was at it again this week, accusing the current Labor government of having a terrible track record on superannuation and attacking his opposite number.
“Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan are desperate for more cash to pay for their wasteful spending and for the failure of their mining tax,” he said in a statement.
“They think Australians doing the right thing by saving more for their retirement are soft targets for more Labor tax increases. Meanwhile Bill Shorten is missing in action on super.
“Is it because he’s too weak to resist Julia Gillard and Wayne Swan or because he doesn’t care?
“Or is it because he is too busy trying to secure his own political future?”
Increasingly, though, it is Cormann’s own political ambitions that will be subject to scrutiny and it would appear that no office is too high if financial advisers have their way.
* Tintin was created by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, who wrote under the pen name of Hergé.
Aaron Diamond – you have nailed it. Let’s also remember the Coalition have ALWAYS voted down an increase in SG, something that both the community and advisers benefit from. For goodness sake they don’t even believe in super! As an ALP member I am not proud of how FoFA was handled in the final stages however we must never forget that without the ALP the broader financial services would be a 10th of the size without super.
Okay but lets ask the hard questions ! What was the Coalitions record Please ask Mr Cormann to respond to the following questions ?
The last Conservative Government which held power for 11 yrs
during 3 of which it controlled the Senate giving it total control made the following decisions which had a very negative impact of our industry
× Industry Funds flourished and in many ways took control of the industry
× “Compare the Pair” ads were allowed to flourish unchallenged
Full $$ disclosure of Risk Insurance was introduced
Superannuation Surcharge was introduced ( yes it was later removed) but it’s imposition did very significant harm to the reputation of Super, especially among the wealthy
Treasurer told people they would no longer need Financial Advisors !
Concessional Super contributions were reduced to $50k pa for all those < 50 and non concessional contributions capped at $150k pa
FSRA was introduced which imposed very significant imposes and extra costs on the average working adviser
No action was taken to reform FICS / FOS
Ability to use the term Independent was greatly reduced yet no action was taken to make Institutionally owned advisers properly
disclose their status
× Assets Test concessions were removed from Complying Pensions/Annuity
Why will it be different if you are returned to
Government ?
Will you commit to :
Increase Concessional Contributions caps ?
Removal of the Super Surcharge ?
Making Institutionally Owned advisors
fully disclose their status ad conflicts of interest
Restricting the use of the Term Financial
Advisor
Remove all references to Opt in
requirements
Turnbull will be prime minister and Cormann will be treasurer. Then all the fairy tales will end!