Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation) Share this | Hansard source

The amendment gives ASIC the ability to exempt advisers from the opt-in obligation if they are satisfied that the adviser has signed up to a professional code which obviates the need for opt-in. This is a sensible change—which has also been recommended to me by a range of industry participants, along with the member for Lyne—which makes advisers who deliberately put in place set-and-forget arrangements accountable to the opt-in obligations in the law but provides some commonsense relief for those advisers that act in a professional manner and are obligated under a code to adequately service clients. This is not a loophole to opt-in, and let me be clear on this. If ASIC is not satisfied that a professional code obviates the need for opt-in, those advisers signed up to that code will need to comply with opt-in requirements. This also provides an incentive for advisers to attain a greater level of professionalism, something that can only be good for the sector and ultimately the consumers. This ensures consumers are adequately protected either by a professional body or, failing that, the opt-in provisions in the law.

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