Bowen’s a headline act, but he comes up short on detail

Reports today that the Minister for Financial Services, Chris Bowen will back down on rules enforcing the Government’s Financial Adviser reforms are more evidence that Rudd Labor is only interested in the headline first and the detail later, said Shadow Financial Services Minister, Luke Hartsuyker, today.

"This approach to policy has resulted in back-flip after back-flip from the Rudd Labor Government," said Mr Hartsuyker.  "As reported in The Australian newspaper today, discussions between the Minister and those in the industry have shown that the Labor Government is looking at a number of changes to the original proposals.  This includes significantly extending the time intervals at which investors must opt in to percentage based fees paid from the manufacturer.

"Minister Bowen appears to be taking the Coalition’s advice that his original proposals could hurt the operations of small business financial planners and he is now scrambling to find a solution."