SMSF Association Media Release
The SMSF Association says Australia’s fragmented regulatory framework governing professional advice needs urgent reform, warning that SMSF professionals are being constrained by outdated structures that no longer reflect how Australians seek and receive advice.
Speaking at the Association’s Technical Summit, Policy Manager, Keddie Waller, had a clear message for SMSF professionals in the audience: “Our members are doing everything they can to support clients across all stages of life – but they’re being held back by a regulatory system built in silos. The system needs to evolve.”
Waller’s session, “Do you know where the line is when providing advice?”, unpacked the complex boundaries between tax, financial planning, legal and accounting advice – highlighting how SMSF professionals are often placed in impossible situations, expected to provide guidance on matters where they are not licensed or authorised to give advice.
“Clients don’t understand the regulatory lines – they see a trusted adviser. And when that adviser can’t meet their needs, or worse, oversteps and risks a breach, both parties lose. It’s time we fix the framework so that trusted professionals can give the advice Australians need,” Waller said.
The Association has long advocated for a more flexible, principles-based model of professional advice – one that better reflects the real-world needs of clients and enables professionals to support them through significant life events such as starting a business, funding aged care or managing family wealth.
These themes echoed throughout the Summit. Business Depot Legal’s Neal Dallas and Victoria Mercer’s session on ethical dilemmas in SMSF advice underscored how easily professionals can come unstuck when legal duties collide with moral pressure. Aged Care Step’s Louise Biti’s keynote session on aged care reinforced the urgent need for licensed advisers to step into the gap left by a system that has failed to keep pace with demographic reality.
“The advice gap isn’t closing – it’s widening. We need a smarter regulatory approach that allows qualified professionals to help Australians when and how they need it,” Waller said.
As the voice of the SMSF sector, the Association reaffirmed its commitment to working with government, regulators and industry partners to reshape the advice landscape for the betterment of the community.