Where are the Greens on FOFA?
Financial planning representatives who have attended the hearings of both the Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) reviewing the Future of Financial Advice (FOFA) legislation and the Senate Economics Committee have expressed concern at the absence of any representatives - Senators or Members - from the Australian Greens.
Representatives of the major financial planning groups returned to Canberra yesterday to give evidence before the Senate Economics Committee and, as was the case during their appearances before the PJC, found that no Greens parliamentarians were present.
The absence of the Greens has been noted at the same time as both the Financial Planning Association (FPA) and the Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) have sought to ramp up their lobbying of key independents to obtain amendments to the FOFA bills, particularly with respect to the two-year opt-in and an annual disclosure obligation.
The two organisations signaled they would be ramping up lobbying efforts in the wake of NSW independent Rob Oakeshott last week saying he would be opposing the two-year opt-in when the legislation was brought before the House of Representatives.
The concern among financial planning industry observers is that the absence of Greens representatives from both the PJC and the Senate Committee hearings signals that they will be simply supporting the Government's line on the legislation.
"But, at the very least, their absence signals a disregard for the views of one of Australia's most significant industries," one observer said.
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