Brokers may be celebrating the news that the Coalition has remained in power, but executives across the industry say there is still work to be done.
At the time of writing, the Liberal/National Coalition had taken 77 seats in the 151-seat Parliament, while the Labor Party had 69 seats. Almost 20% of the vote was still to be counted.
In a letter to members yesterday, MFAA CEO Mike Felton said that the result was one “many would not have thought possible”.
“There is no doubt that this election result is a good one for our industry. This
Government has demonstrated over recent years that it is committed to
maintaining competition, choice and access to credit for Australian home buyers,” the letter read.
“However, now is not the time to rest on our laurels. If we’re going to continue to
be an industry with outstanding data on customer satisfaction and growing market
share, we must continue to reform and evolve,” Felton continued.
He outlined a series of plans, including the MFAA’s continued collaboration with government on royal commission recommendations and ASIC’s remuneration review.
His comments were echoed by FBAA managing director Peter White.
Congratulating PM Scott Morrison on the win, White said in a statement that now is the time for brokers to “take the handbrake off and hit the accelerator”.
“Now that the election is over, I want to urge all brokers to commit to doing everything we can to grow our businesses now that banks know we are a force to be reckoned with,” his statement continued.
Speaking to Australia Broker, he added, “This is not the time to stop putting pressure on the politicians. There are things we need to watch in how this plays out.
“We need to keep those lobbying initiatives, the letter writing, the social media, the client testimonials, all going as much as possible,” he added.
According to recent pledges, the Coalition backs Hayne’s recommendations on best interest duty and clawbacks, and a review on remuneration is still on the table for 2022.
Yesterday – the first trading day after the result was announced – started strong with the share index up by more than 100 points (1.6%) at the start of trading. The Australian dollar spiked “half a cent higher” according to CommSec analysis, nearing US69.4 cents.
There will be more on this story in the next issue of Australian Broker
