Uncompensated losses arising from financial misconduct can cause a range of lasting impacts on people, including the loss of a family home, bankruptcy, the collapse of the family business, mental and physical ill-health, and relationship breakdown. A well-designed CSLR is a missing link in the financial services architecture in Australia. It is essential that the Government gets the design of the CSLR right in the first instance to ensure that the Australian community is protected and trust is restored to the financial sector.
Consumer groups recommend the scope of the scheme be expanded to include all financial services products and services that come within AFCA’s jurisdiction, including funeral expenses providers, managed investment schemes
and debt management firms.
We also support expanding the scheme to include court and tribunal decisions and to include voluntary Australian Financial Complaints Authority (‘AFCA’) members. The purpose of the CSLR is to stop people from falling through the cracks, so we must not design a system with cracks from the outset.
