Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones has provided a sketch of his plans for the Quality of Advice Review final report recommendations, indicating priority will likely be given to those that can progress through Parliament more “quickly” than other “controversial” proposals. 
 
Mr Jones, who was speaking at a post-budget seminar last week hosted by the Financial Services Council, did not mention which proposals he sees as “controversial”, but says the plan is to group the proposed measures into “three pillars of work”. 
 
Neither did he mention whether the Government is going to accept all or drop some of the proposed measures to revamp the advice industry. 
 
He told the webinar Government may be ready later this month or early June to “share the stages of work” it has been undertaking as part of its response to the final report. 
 
“In my mind it’ll be what are the things that we can get away immediately and in my mind are not controversial,” Mr Jones said. 
 
“What are the things that might not be controversial but might be difficult and get that one done and what are the things in my mind that are not burning decks? What can I get through Parliament quickly? 
 
“And that's the approach I've been talking about for about three months now… we run a cabinet-style government so we want the imprimatur of the entire cabinet not just the Minister for Financial Services on that.” 
 
He also addressed the “silence” from the Government since receiving the report last December. 
 
“There’s been a bit of an excitement over the last fortnight about whether [the] silence suggests an agenda. It absolutely doesn’t,” Mr Jones said. 
 
He says he has been criss-crossing the country to “make it quite clear that we weren’t just going to take a report and bury it”. 
 
The budget has taken priority over everything, he says. “Absolutely everything. Not just our response to the advice stuff.” 
 
Ms Levy, who led the review and presented her final report in December, penned a letter this month urging the Government to take up her proposals to revamp the advice sector. Her letter says work on any changes to the proposed measures, if they are needed, can take place at a later stage. 
 
Her report recommends an overhaul of the personal advice definition and changes to the current best interest duty and disclosure documentation. She also recommended keeping the commissions model for life and general insurance broking. 
 
The Government has said it will consult on the proposed measures before making its response.