First QAR legislation hits Parliament
The government has introduced a bill to Parliament to legislate the first stream of the QAR reforms.
The long-awaited bill to enshrine some of the recommendations of the Quality of Advice Review (QAR) has hit Parliament.
On 14 November, the government released legislation to implement half of the Quality of Advice recommendations as part of tranche 1 of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes package. This was followed by a period of consultation, with the Minister for Financial Services, Stephen Jones, noting on several occasions that legislation would hit Parliament in the first quarter of 2024.
On 7 December 2023, the government finalised its response to the QAR, adopting a further five recommendations in full or in principle. Legislation to implement this announcement will be developed in the next tranche of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes package.
The bill introduced to Parliament on Wednesday reads: "Tranche 1 includes amendments that will provide legal certainty for the payment of financial adviser fees from a member’s superannuation fund account and remove red tape that currently adds to the cost of financial advice with no benefit to consumers.
"This measure will support increased access to affordable financial advice for millions of Australians and will particularly benefit the five million Australians at or approaching and planning for their retirement that need assistance navigating the pension and superannuation systems."
Among the recommendations included in this initial bill are:
