The Albanese government has opened consultations on a major consumer protection package for superannuation and financial services, with potential implications for advice businesses, licensees and mortgage brokers’ clients.
A new Treasury consultation, led by assistant treasurer and minister for financial services Daniel Mulino (pictured), follows the collapses of the Shield and First Guardian Master Funds, which affected more than 11,000 consumers and over $1 billion of superannuation money. The package aims to close gaps exposed by those failures and to ensure the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR) remains financially sustainable.
The government is consulting on options to strengthen trustee governance, create a safer framework for super switching, and put tighter controls around advice fees deducted from super. It is also considering rules that would require platform trustees to use their own capital to compensate members for certain investment failures on their platforms.
Another paper targets high‑pressure sales tactics and unregulated marketing. Proposals include tougher accountability for lead generators, stronger unsolicited selling rules – including a possible ban on unlicensed super communications – and earlier regulatory intervention to disrupt harmful advertising.
The CSLR, which compensates certain victims of financial misconduct when other avenues have been exhausted, is also under review. The third paper looks at redesigning the CSLR so funding is more predictable and better aligned with sectors that generate losses, while still operating as an effective safety net for victims of misconduct.
The Australian Banking Association (ABA) has welcomed the review.
“Banks support a genuine scheme of last resort that compensates victims when they have suffered financial loss due to misconduct,” ABA CEO Simon Birmingham said in a media release.
Birmingham stressed that reforms should target those most in need and encourage high conduct standards across all financial sectors.
Birmingham warned that “the current model is no longer working” and backed steps to stem losses, contain claims, and better align CSLR costs with sectors driving those losses.
The consultation runs for six weeks to 22 May 2026, with Mulino planning a second industry roundtable before the government settles on final reforms.
Read the government media release and take part in the consultation.
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