Govt expect to take two months to consult over regulation changes

Commerce Minister Simon Power had to move swiftly after the Commerce Committee sent back its report into the amendments to adviser legislation that carved out advisers who only dealt with category two products, such as insurance advisers or mortgage brokers, but did not grant the Securities Commission a provision to let them apply for the tougher authorisation status.

Power introduced a further supplementary paper to allow regulation to fix the problem, though he could not front in Parliament to oversee the passing of the bill, leaving it to colleague Pansy Wong to explain to MPs in select committee stage.

"The minister has undertaken to consult with stakeholders, because we want to make sure that if we go ahead with the provision, which will be in the form of regulation, we get it right," Wong told Parliament. "We are looking at a time frame of around two months. We want to do consultation; we want to make the regulation right."

The final readings of the bill saw MPs congratulate themselves for working in a bipartisan manner in trying to rebuild the public's confidence in capital markets following the collapse of the finance sector in 2008.