Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

There is no haste, as I have just indicated in response to the primary question. We first announced those changes in March 2012. We have repeated them ad nauseum from March 2012 at every opportunity, in every speech, in every press release, in the election commitments we put to the Australian people before the last election. Senator Sinodinos consulted widely across industry on an exposure draft of the legislation and the regulations. in March when I came back into this position on a temporary basis as the Acting Assistant Treasurer, I paused implementation of the regulations at that point to conduct some further consultation.

The Senate economics committee inquiry, chaired by my good friend, Senator Bushby, investigated those particular changes and recommended that they be passed by the Senate because we got the balance right. We have been so transparent all the way through about what we are doing in the national interest—that is, keeping the consumer protections that matter but cutting the red tape that is pushing up the cost of advice. (Time expired)