The passage of the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) reform legislation has been dealt another blow with the Bill being referred to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee.
In a report tabled this month, the Senate’s Selection of Bills Committee recommended the the FoFA Bill be ‘immediately referred’ to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee. Their report is due on 14 March 2012.
This follows an earlier recommendation by the Senate that the FoFA legislation be referred to the Parliamentary Joint Commission on Corporations and Financial Services (PJC), with a report not due until 29 February.
Also before the PJC is the MySuper Bill, introduced earlier this month and subsequently referred by the Senate for review. The PJC has not yet provided a date for the delivery of its report on this Bill.
Speaking at the Financial Planning Association’s National Conference on 17 November, Minister Bill Shorten said he had no doubt that most of the Government’s reforms would be passed by Parliament.
The Minister said the second tranche of FoFA reforms, which would include best interests duty, the ban on conflicted remunerations and volume bonus payments, was likely to be introduced to Parliament before the end of sitting this year. However, with one day left in the confirmed sitting schedule it remains to be seen if there will be sufficient time in which to table the new Bill.
