coalition backs fraud and corruption , no inquiry

Updated Thu 15 May 2014, 9:17am AEST

The Federal Government is cutting funding to the corporate watchdog, as it pushes for less regulatory oversight of the financial sector.

Over the next five years, $120 million will be pulled from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's (ASIC) funding.

Joe Hockey has launched an extraordinary attack on the corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, for failing to police the financial planning sector allowing thousands of customers of the Commonwealth Bank's financial planning arm to be ripped off.
Addressing the Coalition joint party room in Canberra on Tuesday, the Treasurer told government MPs that the performance of the regulator was unsatisfactory.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/treasurer-joe-hockey-criticises-asic-over-cba-scandal-20140715-3bym3.html#ixzz37ViXTHqR

13 comments

I've got better things to do instead of getting upset about something that I can do nothing about

We CAN do something about it.... Abbott Point is a good example.  

So far FOUR very big investment banks have withdrawn their financial support for the extention of Abbott Point by a FOREIGN corporation (Adani - who has a disgusting environmental record).  

They have done this because people DID do something and stopped, so far anyway, the funding of a project which will destroy part of the Great Barrier Reef.

Where is the fire in your belly Davey.... 

So Hockey bags ASIC yet cuts its funding in the budget . Matthias conmann wants to repeal laws that protect clients when getting financial advice ( FOFA ) . Storm financial bust along with the CBA scandal and other crimes yet the coalition wants to please its donors by making it easier for the same to happen again . In a criminal court I think the word to describe such actions would be aiding and abetting .

I cannot believe that advisors for the CBA have not been charged with fraud or the CBA itself with corruption . To think the coalition sees no need for an inquiry yet rushed to have an inquiry on pink batts when several had already been held beggars belief . An election thought bubble holds precedence over fraud and malfeasance committed on the Australian public . On top of this it wants to repeal laws introduced to avoid future fraud and corruption . Thats like wanting to repeal drink driving and speed laws to appease a small section of motor clubs .

He is presenting his interim report on a day when the Senate is likely to strike down regulations introduced at the behest of the banks that would have enabled them to continue to reward their advisory staff for steering customers towards the banks’ own products.

The move will come against the backdrop of calls for a royal commission into the CBA, and an apology by its chief executive for fraudulent and misleading advice, some of it from staff he still employs.

No matter how reasonable the review’s recommendations, if they are seen to advance the interests of the banks they’ll have little chance of acceptance.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/perfect-storm-catches-bankers-all-at-sea-20140713-3bv40.html#ixzz37Vt3T5ow

geomac

About ten years ago I spoke to some Americans about their country and compared it to the social services, etc that OUR taxes paid for.  At first they were hostile but after awhile, they were a bit upset that Australia was a capitalist country but still provided for its people.  Then they started to talk about how their country was simply corrupt from the top all the way down to the bottom, add crime and drugs and they felt helpless.

I am starting to see the same "in your face" corruption becoming part of our country.  When mega corporations take control, massive and blatant corruption follows.

The corruption we are seeing leaves you gobsmacked it is so blatant and nothing is being done about it.

I have to agree that ASIC has a relatively poor record of policing the corporate sector and uncovering rorts, overcharging, unethical behavior etc, but to simply cut funding is the height of stupidity.

Should our Police force get a similar report bagging its performance, would we cut funding? - certainly not, we would do a thorough audit and investigation and set up systems/procedures/policies etc that ensure that they do the job that is their mandate. The same should be done with our corporate watchdog. With less funding for them, the shonks and the "big end of town" will run riot, trampling on "mum and dad" investors.

kfchugo

How the hell are you?

Your comment is spot on and I agree totally.

The changes would remove a catch-all clause requiring financial advisers to act in the best interests of their client and reinstate commissions for general financial advice.

The Federal Government says the changes will reduce red tape and thus cut the cost of financial advice.

ISA chief executive David Whiteley says the changes may cut costs for banks, but their customers will be worse off.

"Removing these consumer protections is being advocated by the banks, because they say that this will reduce the cost of advice," he said.

"This report debunks this claim, this report makes clear that removing these protections will increase the cost of financial advice to consumers."

source

Just dont go anywhere near a financial advisor that should solve the problem.

Problem with that is that many people go to their banks and receive financial advice and they don't even realise it but just follow what is advised.

HOWEVER, I agree totally.

My philosophy is to simply use your noggin about what YOU want financially and then get a solicitor to process the rest.  People may not know about all the various 'swaps' 'markets' etc BUT they are quite capable of logically working out their financial affairs with solid stuff like property, rentals, savings accounts, shares (solid and good earners ONLY).  No speculation or fancily named accounts or dealings.  No get rich quick rubbish.  

Keep your money and your assets safe because Financial Advisers and many, many others are out there ready to take as much as they can from you.  Just look at our SUPERANNUATION FUNDS.... the fees charged are one of the highest in the world.. talk about rip off!

Clive PUPS emerge as PUPPETS. Brickbats to the new Senate!

Red tape seals government gift to powerful

The government gave the game away on the FoFA changes when it agreed to amendments that add a layer of red tape (‘‘Palmer deal saves Abbott’s reforms’’, July 16). Obviously its aim all along has been to further tip the scales towards the powerful, and away from the average consumer. With the help of the Palmer United Party, it has achieved its goal and, as a result, we may reasonably expect that more people will lose their life savings at the hands of unscrupulous institutions.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/smh-letters/memo-kevin-donnelly-brutal-punishment-teaches-children-nothing-good-20140716-ztms7.html#ixzz37drAYsud

There is more to come..... after watching parliament carry on for awhile, I heard a Liberal get up and declare that GST should be increased to 15% AND that GST should be charged on ALL items..... health, food, government charges, etc, etc.  

The GST is a dispicable, unfair and INEQUITABLE tax that places a huge tax burden on the poor and average Australian with the wealthy laughing all the way to the bank.  

HOWEVER, it does raise billions in revenue for the government and a 50% hike in the rate will do just that... a windfall.  This will solve all Abbott's mismanagement of Australia's affairs and public funds - boosting his coffers at the expense and hardship of the poor and average Australian.

As one person said when voting against the original GST proposal at election time.... "the GST is a difficult concept for me to understand BUT I do know that if Mr Packer thinks it is a good idea, then it will not be good for the little bloke and especially me".  How damn clever was that elderly woman! 

This is just the start..... a mention in parliament, then some softners put out by the corporate controlled media, then some talks of disasters if it's not increased,  etc, until the concept is marked as an essential component for Australia's economic survival or gowth or some other such bull dust.

Breaking news!!!!!!

The Brics Nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa - main players) have agreed to and signed up to Contingent Reserve Arrangements (CRA) to commence their own alternative to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).  This is because the IMF (nee USA) have refused to comply with agreed upgrading of the IMF which currently excludes any input from the new players on the block.

Currently, if countries require loans for liquidity or growth, the IMF interferes forces those countries to comply with and adopt Western philosophies, politically and economically, irrespective of the damage caused to that country.  This is one of the things that the Brics alternative IMF will NOT do.

If you want to look at a brief but informative article from Zero Hedge, it is interesting ....

BRICS ALTERNATIVE TO IMF

This is a HUGE thing because it means that the downward spiral of the US$ as the world currency is well and truly beginning.  Being the world currency meant that the USA could mismanage their affairs and simply pass all their financial losses and fraudulent financial conduct onto the rest of the world with impunity.... hence the GFC.  The USA's economy is in big trouble because the banks have not been passing on liquidity into the economy but buying up assets in foreign countries with their soon to be worthless currency. It will be a game of pass the parcel and the loser will be the one holding US currency when the music stops.

The other big negative thing is that the USA may become even more unpredictable (they have been instrumental in causing death and destruction in the Middle East - Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Egypt, Ukraine) what else are they capable of?

As one of the witnesses said at the Senate inquiry into the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), which perhaps luckily for it turned into an inquisition into the CBA’s Commonwealth Financial Planning, there’s more consumer protection buying a fridge than in financial advice from a bank.

And don’t think the so-called Future of Financial Advice (or FOFA) reforms introduced by Labor or the, um, reform of its reforms the Coalition is pushing through, changes things one iota.

Or that the Commonwealth Bank of Australia is the only bank guilty of dodgy advice. The Senate inquiry names Macquarie and in 2009 ASIC fingered ANZ Custodians as well, though all the banks are in the same boat, perhaps not to the same degree of dodginess but of being compromised.

An ASIC survey at the time found one in five advisers were giving “poor” advice.

Yet Labor spectacularly missed the point that banks having advisers push their products can never be ridgy didge because of the inherent conflict of interest, and the Coalition seems set on hiding the fact by tinkering around the edges.

Unfortunately opposing the Government’s reforms is seen as supporting the original so let me say I don’t like either.


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/money/planning/when-is-advice-not-advice-when-its-a-sales-pitch-20140711-zt08e.html#ixzz37pBpmg1W

well geo, we don't want all the pesky red tape spoiling the party now, do we?

From the Crikey grapevine, the latest tips and rumours …

Co-payments and the Cormack Foundation. While debate continues to simmer over the government’s GP co-payment plan, one tipster drew our attention to the idea's source. The original co-payment figure was $6, and it came from the Australian Centre for Health Research (ACHR), a small think tank set up by private health funds and hospitals. It turns out that like many think tanks, the ACHR is not all that far removed from the halls of power. The ACHR board is a who’s-who of head honchos from the private health sector, including Michael Walsh, chief executive of Cabrini Health in Melbourne. Cabrini Health’s chairman is Peter Matthey, who is the financial controller for the Cormack Foundation -- the Liberal Party’s biggest donor for many years. The Cormack Foundation’s influence on government policies has already been questioned this year, with Crikey revealing the foundation receives dividends from the big four banks, which lobbied the government successfully to repeal financial advice regulations.

13 comments



To make a comment, please register or login

Preview your comment