The Association of Financial Advisers (AFA) has started to examine other means to secure an extension to the adviser exam timetable after acknowledging a late change to a bill currently before parliament would likely result in the proposed extension not being delivered until later in the year.
In a message sent to AFA members, association chief executive Phil Kewin said while it would appear the Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Measures No 3) Bill may not get through the Senate during the current sitting of parliament, discussions were underway into other means of securing an extension.
“We want to assure you that there are other options for obtaining regulatory relief from the exam deadline, including through regulations or another form of exemption, and we have been discussing the options with the government for some time,” Kewin told members in the message.
His comments were preceded by an acknowledgement the bill was unlikely to be passed this week as the result of the ALP seeking to introduce an amendment, which prohibits commission on the sale of units in listed investment companies/trusts.
“The extension to the deadlines for the FASEA (Financial Adviser Standards and Ethics Authority) exam and education standard is part of a broader bill (Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Measures No 3) Bill) and the ALP intends to make an amendment to this bill on an unrelated matter. If the amendment is successful, then the bill will have to go back to the lower house at another time,” he said.
“Alternatively, if the amendment is tabled and debated, there may not be sufficient time to pass the bill. Or given the very limited sitting opportunities for the Senate, the government may not want to address legislation that is likely to result in an extended debate, and therefore the government may choose not to table the bill at all.
“Ultimately, either way, it would appear that the legislation is unlikely to be passed this week if the ALP seeks to introduce the unrelated amendment as proposed.”
The AFA made these points yesterday as part of a press release in which it called on the ALP to support the FASEA exam deadline extension and Kewin said he took the step to contact members after being contacted by the office of opposition financial services spokesman Stephen Jones.
Kewin said Jones’s office made contact “to dispute our claims that they would not support the education extensions. They have confirmed that they support the extensions as they have previously stated, which we acknowledge”.
He said the AFA had been assured the government and the ALP supported the extensions and repeated the association’s call for Labor to pass the bill without the amendment, which can be dealt with at a later date.
