The government intends to introduce a cooling-off period for consumers switching super funds, limit “inappropriate” financial advice fee charging and make changes to anti-hawking laws to mitigate the impact of lead generators. 

Minister for Financial Services Daniel Mulino said the government will consult at the start of the new year on the changes, which will also include moves to strengthen platform governance and capital holding requirements for managed investment schemes (MISs). 

“We need to ensure that there are sufficient consumer protections in place that we stop these insidious industrial scale practices happening in the future,” Mulino told a media briefing on Wednesday. 

“We need to ensure that we stamp out the abuse of mum and dad investors that we’ve seen in the First Guardian and Shield collapses.” 

The anticipated changes come in response to the collapse of the Shield and First Guardian master funds, which has left $1 billion of retirement savings at risk due to high-pressure sales tactics that saw members of APRA-regulated super funds rolled into high-risk products with a short track record.  

It is understood that the consumer reforms were heavily pursued by superannuation advocacy bodies as the government  moved to add profit-to-member funds into the CSLR special levy.   

It is understood that the consumer reforms were heavily pursued by industry superannuation advocacy bodies as the government moved to add profit-to-member funds into the CSLR special levy.

Mulino conceded that further decisions haven’t been made on what would be considered an “inappropriate” advice fee or how it will be prevented. 

“When it comes to superannuation account switching, we need to look at options like whether or not in some circumstances people need to be able to take their time and not be rushed but we also need to look at the appropriateness of different charging methodologies,” Mulino said. 

“That’s not an area where any decisions have been taken but it’s absolutely critical that we look carefully at that because it’s one of the links in the chain.” 

Mulino said there would also be strong consideration of whether lead generators should be licensed or subject to further disclosure requirements over their usage. 

“It’s not a straightforward sector to regulate,” Mulino said. 

“It’s not just lead generation, because a lead generator will often hand somebody over to an adviser, so it’s important to look at that link.” 

The announcement coincided with a decision on the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort (CSLR) special levy for FY26, which will see advisers and APRA-regulated funds contribute to the shortfall, a move that has been criticised by both the Financial Advice Association Australia (FAAA) and the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA). 

The FAAA argued that advisers have each already paid several thousand dollars on for the levy, while ASFA has argued the decision risks treating retirement savings as a “convenient pot” of money for solving problems. 

In February 2026, there will be a further policy options paper released detailing proposed reforms to the CSLR to help the scheme become sustainable, which will informed by the outcomes of an industry roundtable being held on Wednesday morning. 

Netwealth has already applied for assistance to remediate First Guardian Master Fund investors with other trustees caught up in the Shield and First Guardian collapse expected to do the same. That would require a separate industry levy.  

Mulino said he’s still in discussions with Treasury about a decision on the Netwealth application. “That’s a complex matter and there’s a range obligations on me,” Mulino said. 

Mulino said more specific details about new regulation for MISs will come, but that the government is exploring the degree to which funds would need to report to ASIC. 

The government also reiterated the work it has done with regulators and the Financial Services Council to help lift the standards for platform trustees and MISs. 

The minister has also written to APRA about what further actions are needed in relation to platforms and to ASIC about whether capital holding requirements of MISs are sufficient. 

Both Super Consumers Australia and industry fund peak body Super Members Council have advocated for a change to anti-hawking laws. 

A recommendation from the Hayne royal commission final report saw the introduction of anti-hawking laws to prevent the unsolicited sale of financial products, but a gap in the law exempts the unsolicited sale of a financial service, including financial advice. 

Furthermore, the lead generators involved in Shield and First Guardian are alleged to have used “super health check” advertisements that lured potential investors to enter their contact details under the guise of a performance comparison. 

Cbus Super CEO Kristian Fok said the fund has been a vocal advocate for changes to the superannuation system to crackdown on lead generators. 

“We’ve been really clear about the need for a more contemporary and resilient framework to protect people from these predatory and high-pressure sales tactics,” Fok said.