Will the new Senate still target financial planning?

The Parliamentary inquiry which has directed most negative attention towards the financial planning industry — the Senate Economics Committee Scrutiny of Financial Advice inquiry — has lapsed well short of issuing its second and final report.

The inquiry, which brought NSW Labor Senator, Sam Dastyari, to prominence and acted as a conduit for whistleblowers and others involved in Commonwealth Financial Planning, CommInsure, IOOF and Macquarie, lapsed with the calling of the 2 July Federal election, and its future will depend on the future make-up of the Senate.

The Committee inquiry also became a focal point for calls for a Royal Commission into the financial services industry — something the Federal Opposition has adopted as a position going into the Federal Election.

However on the final day of public hearings by the Senate Committee, Victoria's Financial Rights Legal Centre principal solicitor, Alexandra Kelly, suggested to Senator Dastyari that rather than conducting a Royal Commission, the Government would be better served on actually implementing the findings of past inquiries.

Kelly said she was not opposed to a Royal Commission but pointed to previous inquiries and suggested solutions.

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"It is a tricky one because over the years that we have been around we have seen the scandals and we have seen the inquiries. Solutions have been mooted about but there has been no real action on it so why do we not just action what we have already previously said rather than have a Royal Commission?" she asked.

Kelly suggested that in circumstances where new scandals kept emerging, it might be worthwhile "getting everyone in the room focused and re-evaluating the whole system."