Labor gets State support for property regulation plan

State and Territory Consumer Affairs Ministers have thrown their support behind an Australian Labor Party plan to introduce a national regulatory regime, administered by theAustralian Securities and Investments Commission, to police the property investment advice industry.

The Federal Shadow Minister for Financial Services, Senator Stephen Conroy, made the announcement following a special meeting held in Sydney on Friday, and attended by Federal Labor and the State Ministers.

Senator Conroy highlighted the gap in the regulatory framework on property promoters, and said that the Howard Government was trying to “pass the buck” on the issue to the states and territories, while pledging Labor’s support for a solution bringing the area under ASIC’s jurisdiction, similarly to other forms of investment advice.

NSW Fair Trading Minister Reba Meagher says, “It is important to have one regulatory system and enforcer, through ASIC, rather than separate State-based models.”

The State and Territory Ministers signed, for the first time, a Joint Consumer Protection Agreement, under which they agreed to establish a national register of property investment scheme promoters, collate and exchange complaints against promoters, and assist ASIC once a national regulatory regime is introduced.

The meeting, according to the Labor Party, was called due to concerns “the Howard Government was hampering efforts by a joint working party to deliver a report into national regulation of the property investment advice industry”.

Queensland Fair Trading Minister Margaret Keech says an interstate working party was formed last August to examine the issue and had been due to report shortly, but that “early reports have indicated that the Commonwealth is looking to delay the release of the report”.