Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

No, keep going—keep going. They should simply admit that they have bungled the introduction of FOFA and run out of time to implement the changes by 1 July 2012.

For the next 12 months there will also be a complete lack of certainty for consumers, as there will not be a level playing field for the provision of financial advice. It will be practically impossible for consumers to know which adviser is complying with the old rules and which adviser has already moved to the new requirements. A single start date, with an appropriate lead-in time to implement the necessary changes, would provide certainty for consumers and financial advisers. Sadly, as with so many of the FOFA changes, the government have created more confusion and more uncertainty rather than fixed a problem—that is, not providing an appropriate state date in the first place—of their own making. The best way to remove this uncertainty would have been for the government to support the sensible coalition amendment to provide one clear and unambiguous start date of 1 July 2013, together with the other 12 coalition amendments.

I know that the heart of the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Financial Services and Superannuation is in the right place; the problem is that his head is not in the right place. Sadly, this additional legislation means more red tape for financial advisers and the financial services industry. Like so much of what this government do, this legislation is mired in complexity and mired in the confusion of a government who do not understand the impact of what they are doing, even if it is a thing as simple as handing out water bottles to the 100,000 kids who come to Parliament House each year.

The FOFA reforms are complex, but why can't this government get anything right? It is simple; it is not hard. You need to consult and engage with industry, and, once you have consulted and engaged with industry, you take on board their concerns about the red tape and the complexity and give them fair warning about the change that will occur rather than giving them a soft start date and a hard start date and leaving it to decisions which are going to be made in a handful of days before the new financial year. All of this has a cost. That is what the government just do not understand.

The member for Chisholm has previously been very engaged in the financial services industry. If the member for Chisholm were to speak on this legislation, she would be absolutely appalled at the complexity of it. In fact, I think that the member for Chisholm used to be a member of the Finance Sector Union. I would have thought that the Finance Sector Union would be appalled at the complexity associated with this legislation. The member for Chisholm, if she were able to speak on this legislation, would be truly appalled at the complexity and at the—

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