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Did you watch the football or the political spill determining the fate of our nation last night? Bruce Madden surfed between the two. Here are his thoughts on the leadership of the Australian Labor Party, the great game of Rugby League and the perils of being a vertically integrated business in financial planning.
Okay, the thread of connection between those three topics may seem tenuous, but bear with me here.
When our former Prime Minister Julia Gillard called a leadership spill in Canberra yesterday afternoon, nominating a 7:00pm meeting time for the party room vote, half the Australian nation – those living on the Eastern seaboard – had a moment of dire panic.
“Oh no, what about the State of Origin?”
Even some journalists took to Twitter to lodge their protest against the evening scheduling. Never mind the affairs of the nation or the biggest story since the last time we had a Rudd-instigated leadership spill/challenge – we have our deadlines to meet and a game to watch!
With a telecast of the second round of the National Rugby League’s showcase ‘mate against mate’ event in the so-called ‘cauldron’ of Brisbane, events in the Canberra Labor party room cauldron – with another set of ‘mates’ squaring off – looked set to get in the way of a good night of footy.
In fact, one can imagine the heat endured by the Channel Nine management (the TV broadcaster with exclusive rights to the football) faced with an historic ethical dilemma. Do we televise the result of a Titanic battle of good over evil, mate against mate, state against state ... or do we make a bold stand and defer to reporting on the spin, the politics, the players behind the politics and the ultimate in blood letting … and keep broadcasting the footy?
In the end of course the football won out and any punters with a few lazy dollars on the outcome of the Rudd v Gillard match up had to make do with watching events unfold on Nine’s kindred channel GEM, or over on the ABC.
We were at least spared the pre-match soliloquy of one Gus Gould – a former player and now Channel Nine commentator who is to poetry what Ghengis Kahn was to the advancement of the equal rights of women.
Speaking of which, back to Canberra.
Of the millions of words I heard last night on the topic of political leadership, and will have read by the end of today, the most enduring were those spoken by the so-called ‘king maker’ Bill Shorten. (Not King as in Wally Lewis, King as in Kevin).
Footage of a sober-faced senior Minister Shorten pronouncing his pre-vote support for Rudd over Gillard, and acknowledging the impact of his unpopular decision “even with some of my close friends” was to me a defining moment of the whole sorry saga.
One small shred of integrity in a sea of self-interest and bitter factional politicking.
It was the most genuine moment of TV during the entire evening last night, and a stark contrast to the return of the Rudd “zippy” lingo (during his 10:30pm press conference with deputy PM “Albo”) of “rockin’ around” and exhorting all you young people to come back to politics and “we’ll be cooking with gas”.
Cooking with gas? I stopped saying that line years ago when Chrysler still manufactured cars in Australia. “Hey, Charger!” And more recently I have even for the sake of my 10-year-old twin daughters stopped the use of the word “awesome” in my daily language.
If Rudd is looking for a connection to the youth vote in the upcoming election then “cooking with gas” is a bad omen for him.
So – Bill Shorten.
As financial services and superannuation minister, he has some sway over the fate of the financial services industry. So, on one level it is hoped that he continues to have some sway in coming days.
For there is a particularly pertinent bill set to go before the Upper House over the next day or two. That bill is to enact the enshrinement of the use of the terms “financial planner” and “adviser”.
It is a vital piece of consumer protection legislation, and a call to arms for all ethical, purposeful and client acting financial intermediaries to step forward.
We need this differentiation around the brand “financial planning/adviser”.
Because if the recent round of articles published in the Fairfax press by Adele Ferguson are any guide, the public can have no confidence in the big brand banks to save them. And the bank at the centre of this particular issue, CBA, is a former government-owned institution. Which adds an ironic twist to the pressure on the current Government to press ahead and fix things.
Elsewhere, including in my own analysis, there has been some discussion explaining why the rampant creation of vertically integrated wealth models sits at the heart of the problem.
In other words, quality advice is not in trouble, it is the product-driven methodologies of the vertical giants which is the root cause. More to come on this topic after the dust settles in Canberra.
And, just like the punters turning off to the historic political events in favour of their footy, it is hoped the very same people vote with their feet on where they get financial advice. Ideally from a qualified adviser whose name is upheld to a high standard under law.
Download the full transcript of Mr Rudd’s address following the caucus vote last night.
