Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor has vowed to slash red tape and introduce a suite of financial services reforms aimed at transforming Australia into a leading financial hub.
Delivering a post-budget address at the National Press Club, Taylor announced that a Coalition government would swiftly enact the Securing Australia as a Financial Centre Bill within 100 days of the upcoming federal election.
The Coalition’s goal, Taylor said, is to position Australia as a “financial centre for our region”.
“In recent months, I have outlined policies to drive this agenda,” he said.
These include reforming Australia’s capital markets, boosting competition in financial services, reforming the Corporations Act to simplify financial services law, and establishing a foreign investment fast-track for trusted investors from key security partners.
On the Securing Australia as a Financial Centre Bill, Taylor said: “This bill will legislate key financial services reforms that Labor has failed to prioritise – ranging from payments system reforms, digital assets regulation and restoring our financial advice profession.”
The bill is set to complement four key pieces of legislation already announced by Leader of the Opposition, Peter Dutton, for introduction on day one of a new government, including the Energy Price Reduction Bill; the Lower Immigration and More Homes for Australians Bill; the Keeping Australians Safe Bill; and the Guaranteed Funding for Health, Education, and Essential Services Bill.
“Our financial system is the nervous system of the economy. At its best, it supports Australians to achieve their goals to own a home, build a business and plan a secure retirement,” Taylor said.
“There is a litany of financial services reforms the Albanese government has promised but let fall by the wayside. The Coalition will act quickly to cut red tape and provide much-needed regulatory certainty,” shadow assistant treasurer and shadow financial services minister, Luke Howarth, said in a statement following the speech.
Also set for introduction in the first 100 days, the shadow treasurer said, is the appointment of an Investment Australia chair and the establishment of three investment taskforces to reduce regulatory costs in key enabling sectors, including financial services, construction, and resources and energy.
According to the shadow treasurer, this is “one of the most significant changes to how government facilitates private sector investment in decades”.
“We will establish a statutory office within Treasury called Investment Australia,” he said.
“Investment Australia will consolidate and streamline investment facilitation across government – under a united function with clear leadership that reports directly to the Treasurer and the cabinet.
“It is about fast-tracking investment, not holding it back with bureaucracy.”
The body would have a mandate to boost Australia’s competitiveness and facilitate investment, he said.
“Its legislated powers will include call in powers to hold regulators and agencies accountable for bureaucratic delays on significant projects for our nation, implementing statutory deadlines for approvals and pathways for escalation to cabinet,” Taylor said.
“This will drive Australian jobs, increase investment into Australia and restore our economic potential.
“Central to Investment Australia’s competitiveness mandate will be a mission is to make it cheaper to build, finance and power our country.”
‘Economics is about people’
In his speech, Taylor centred the federal election squarely on the economy, saying that Australians will choose who they “trust to restore their living standards”.
“We need strong economic management to restore Australians’ prosperity,” he said. “Economic management that has been lacking from a distracted government that did not treat the cost-of-living crisis with the urgency it deserved. Economics is about people.”
The shadow treasurer said that inflation, interest rates and rising taxes under the Labor government are making “opportunity seem like a foreign concept”.
“Stubborn inflation has seen interest rates go up 12 times, and down just once under Labor,” Taylor said, adding that the recently legislated tax cuts are an “insult to Australians”.
“Today I want to outline our strong economic vision to address these issues.
“Our plan will get Australia back on track and deliver a low inflation, strong growth economy. The answer isn’t more expensive and ineffective government programs.”
In a LinkedIn post shortly after the announcement, the Financial Services Council (FSC) said it welcomed Taylor’s election commitments.
“The Coalition has committed to complete the process of financial advice reform, reduce the red tape burden on the financial services industry, and introduce measures to establish Australia as a regional financial services centre,” the FSC said.
“The FSC outlined our pre-election policy priorities earlier this year, and today’s announcement is a nod to measures we have advocated for to help the sector and Australia reach our economic potential.”
Angus Taylor will be speaking at the Momentum Media wealth portfolio’s pre-election event on 10 April. Click here to find out more.
