Planners respond to Super Panel

Representatives of some financial planning industry bodies have expressed anger over the lack of planner representation on the newly formed Stronger Super Peak Consultative Group while others have justified the Government’s decision to exclude planners from the panel.

The group, announced by the Financial Services Minister Bill Shorten, will include members coming from the Industry Super Network, Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia, CHOICE and Australian Council of Trade Unions.

John Brogden from the Financial Services Council (FSC) and Andrea Slattery from the SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) will also sit on the panel.

However, the president of the Boutique Financial Planning Principals Group, Claude Santucci, said the FSC and SPAA could not adequately represent planners’ interests, and questioned the motives behind the structure of the panel.

“It is disappointing and quite mystifying that the committee does not have any financial planner representation and one would have to call into question the findings of the committee that left out such an important part of the profession,” Santucci said.

“I just think you can’t have an inquiry into any aspect of this industry in which financial planners play such a prominent role if they’re not represented. It is [either] short-sighted or there’s another agenda,” he added.

However, the Financial Planning Association chief, Mark Rantall (pictured), said the reason planners were not represented on the Stronger Super panel was because all financial advice issues that related to super were passed onto the Government's Future of Financial Advice Peak Consultation Panel, which the FPA is on.

“The panel will focus on the new ‘My Super Product’ proposal rather than advice,” Rantall said. “We will input regarding advice through the working groups that will be established.”

The Stronger Super package was announced by the Government in response to the Cooper Review of superannuation.