CLIENT POLITICAL ENGAGEMENT – ASIC LEVY
It is time for the Advice community to flex its considerable political muscle by engaging its clients with the facts around who is paying for the overreaching, inefficient, costly compliance regime and what is responsible for the cost of the escalating risk insurance premiums.
It is also time for the Canberra Bureaucrats to realise that any financial impost they inflict on the industry is passed directly onto consumers. It is quite apparent Governments and Canberra bureaucracy forget who they are meant to be serving.
The imminent ASIC levy collection process is a prime example. The vast majority of recent ASIC legal action has been against the Banks for their scandalous ‘fee for no service’ behaviour emanating from the Hayne Royal Commission where the massive fine outcomes are directed into Government general revenue but the Advice community gets levied for ASIC legal and investigation costs.
With little ‘fat’ left in the Advice industry, Advisers have no choice but to pass these fees directly onto consumers, we do not think it is fair that consumers are ultimately paying for poor Bank management [not adviser] behaviour.
The classic ABC YES MINISTER program series clearly illustrates that the public servants are experts at manipulation and are ‘always there, politicians come and go’. We therefore need to get legislative change via the Politicians to effect real lasting change, as clearly we cannot rely upon the often out of touch Canberra Bureaucrats to get it right.
Once it is enshrined in Legislation even the Bureaucrats cannot change things! [not even YES MINISTER star Sir Humphry Appleby GCB KBE MVO could do that!]
Before the 2022 Election most Politicians greatly underestimated the deep and powerful relationship Advisers have with their clients with any matter involving money and politics. The result in the Seat of Kooyong where the AIOFP campaigned through 280 Advisers and their client base to achieve change sent a clear message to Canberra. We have had success, and we can do it again.
In addition, CoreData’s Survey strongly suggests consumers will change their vote if Government’s policy is directly affecting their personal financial position.
With an expected close election within the next 14 months and the political cycle now firmly in the ‘re – election’ mode, it is our best chance to get bipartisan agreement for issues we and our clients want resolved before the election. We need to engage and mobilise clients about how the current environment is costing them and why we need to intimidate their local sitting federal member with emails and visits to achieve desired outcomes.
Please consider passing this email onto your client base for some preliminary consideration. If we wait until after the next election to get preferred change, we will need to wait for another 3 years until their job is on the line again.
We will be compiling a suggested letter to your clients and a letter from your clients to their sitting Member to commence this process, it will be brief but to the point.
This is not just for AIOFP members, this is for the entire Advice community to participate in, we need to send a clear message to all Politicians and the greater the numbers participating the greater chances of success.
Peter Johnston | Executive Director
