Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party, Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition is going to support the Treasury Laws Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance and Other Measures) Bill because it contains important reforms that Australians have been waiting for, including sensible protections around the use of genetic information in life insurance and improvements across our financial system. This bill also highlights a consistent problem with this government: reforms are delivered too slowly, even where there is broad agreement.

Genetic protections are being delayed despite years of consensus. Schedule 1 prevents life insurers from using genetic test results to deny or limit cover, ensuring Australians can access medical testing without fear of discrimination. Genetic testing can be life saving. It supports clinicians to prevent, diagnose and treat serious conditions, including hereditary diseases and cancer. No Australian should be discouraged from undertaking genetic testing because they fear it could affect their ability to obtain life insurance. These reforms have had broad bipartisan support and strong backing from clinicians, researchers and patient advocates for years, so we encourage Labor to deliver these much more quickly.

The coalition has had to drag Labor kicking and screaming to this. In 2019, while in government, the coalition supported the introduction of an industry moratorium as an interim safeguard, with the clear expectation that legislation would follow. This meant that by the time of the 2022 election a broad consensus was already built. In September 2024, to much fanfare, Labor announced that they would be introducing legislation to ban genetic discrimination in life insurance. This announcement raised real expectations among Australians, but by the 2025 election no legislation had been introduced. That just shows that this has not been a priority.

With strong bipartisan support and no opposition, there is no reason why this legislation shouldn't have been introduced in the previous parliament, and there are consequences for this. People who could have benefit from this testing may have been discouraged from doing so because of concerns about insurance discrimination. Participation in medical research could have been affected. The problem is being fixed now, and we support these reforms. They provide certainty. They prevent discrimination. They support better health outcomes. As I said, the reality is that this has been agreed to for a long time.

Schedule 2 has relief for foreign financial service providers. This schedule provides long-overdue clarity for financial service providers operating in Australia. It will help ensure our markets remain open, competitive and connected to global financial expertise. Again, this is another bipartisan reform that has broad stakeholder support. We introduced legislation in 2022 and since then have been waiting for Labor to deliver this. These four years of delay—again, while there's been broad support—is not acceptable. They have real consequences as well: ongoing regulatory uncertainty, reduced confidence for international firms and risk to Australia's competitiveness as a financial services destination. Again, we support these changes and encourage the government to do them very quickly.

Schedule 3, on the multilateral development banks, changes how Australia funds its commitments to international financial institutions such as the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and the International Monetary Fund. As a member of these banks, Australia contributes capital. There's a concerning shift towards open-ended financial commitments here. The bill introduces standing appropriations without a clear upper limit. This is concerning, and parliament should not be asked to sign blank cheques. While disallowance mechanisms exist, they are not a substitute for full parliamentary scrutiny. We understand there are some genuine administrative challenges with the current system, but we think these changes reflect a broader trend to reduce parliamentary scrutiny. While the coalition supports this schedule—as Australia must meet its international obligations—we encourage the government to resist additional pressure from new levies, including the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort, which would further increase the cost of staying in the profession. While there are some bad eggs, like in any profession, too often, government has painted all advisers with the same brush, but good financial advisers are the best tool at any Australian's disposal to protect themselves from bad advice.

The conclusion is that, ultimately, it's Australians that are paying the price of fewer advisers, higher fees and reduced access to affordable financial advice. When financial advice becomes too expensive to access, people don't stop seeking advice; they just look elsewhere, and they may get it from people who are not properly qualified. That's why the coalition commissioned the Michelle Levy Quality of Advice Review, and that review set out a clear pathway to simplify regulation, reduce costs and improve access to advice. Again, the government have stalled their response. So, again, the coalition supports this bill, but we're calling on the government to deliver the reforms outlined by Ms Michelle Levy to rebuild the adviser workforce, reduce the cost of advice and ensure every Australian can access affordable, high-quality financial advice.

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