Bill Shorten’s tall order
It is a reflection of the silliness which has beset the Federal Parliamentary Australian Labor Party this year that suggestions emerged recently that Kevin Rudd would offer Bill Shorten the Treasury portfolio in the event the party returned Rudd to the prime ministership.
Given the importance of the Treasury to policy execution and the attention to detail required of the relevant minister, Shorten’s elevation to such a role would smack of factional expediency rather than ministerial competency or even runs on the board.
Indeed, any examination of the policy execution debacles which dogged Rudd as Prime Minister and now Julia Gillard ought to suggest that, factional wheeling and dealing aside, Shorten is not the man for the job.
If the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) and Stronger Super changes were held up as the core elements of Shorten’s ministerial report card, then he would barely secure a pass mark.
The number of legislative tranches involved in getting key bills to the Parliament suggest he is good at neither detail nor deadlines.
If this judgement seems harsh, then consider that the Government’s journey towards today’s FOFA legislation was borne of the bipartisan report which emerged from the Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) which focused on the collapse of Storm Financial and other planning sector mishaps – the Ripoll Inquiry.
That’s right. Both sides of politics agreed on the recommendations contained in the PJC report, and for the most part, the financial planning industry embraced what it believed would be the consequent legislative changes.
More than two years later, and under Shorten’s ministerial stewardship, any notions of bipartisanship have evaporated, the FOFA bills are the subject of another PJC process, and there exists no certainty about transitionary arrangements.
Shorten has done slightly better with respect to the legislative implementation of the Stronger Super changes, but again, uncertainty lingers because the Productivity Commission has yet to even start dealing with the future of default funds under modern awards.
While Money Management tends to focus mainly on how Shorten’s efforts have impacted the financial planning sector, the not infrequent concerns expressed by the National Financial Services Federation point to a similar experience and a similar ministerial track record.
It ought to be remembered, of course, that up until Prime Minister Gillard’s last Cabinet reshuffle, Shorten was regarded as a junior minister sitting outside of Cabinet.
Since then, he has not only been elevated to the Cabinet but also been handed a mega-portfolio – Employment and Workplace Relations, Financial Services and Superannuation.
The incumbent Treasurer, Wayne Swan, has been a Member of Parliament for more than 20 years. Bill Shorten has been sitting on the green benches of the House of Representatives for less than half a decade.
Elevation to the Treasury portfolio clearly requires someone with a longer and more compelling track record.
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