The Liberals should not just apologise for opposing a Royal Commission, but also for resisting and then attempting to water down Labor’s financial advice reforms.

The Liberals fought for two years against Labor’s calls for a Royal Commission into the banking and financial services sector with Malcolm Turnbull describing it as “regrettable” and Scott Morrison calling it a “populist whinge”.

The Treasurer today refused to apologise for the delays and obfuscation on the Royal Commission.

The fact is, if the Turnbull Government had listened to Bill Shorten’s call for a Royal Commission in April 2016, the commission would have concluded its inquiry, flushed out the dodgy financial service providers and individuals, and we’d be well and truly implementing the commission’s recommendations right now.

The Liberals have a history of obfuscation and resistance to pro-consumer inquiries and reforms.

When Labor was looking to fill some of the gaps in the financial services regulatory structure left by the Howard Government, addressing conflicts of interest and commissions for financial advice, we were opposed every step of the way by the Liberal Party.

Malcolm Turnbull voted against Labor’s Future of Financial Advice reforms 10 times (in 2012 and 2014), with Treasury Ministers Scott Morrison and Kelly O’Dwyer both speaking against FOFA during the parliamentary debate in 2012.

Scott Morrison said on 21 March 2012 in the parliamentary debate on Labor’s FOFA reforms that they were “corner-cutting and heavy handed regulation” that would “tie businesses and consumers up in red tape”.

Kelly O’Dwyer said in the same debate that FOFA would “increase administrative burdens, increase compliance costs and, consequently, decrease productivity”.

Mathias Cormann, who in 2014 spearheaded the Government’s attempts to dismantle Labor’s FOFA reforms was in complete denial today, telling Sky AM Agenda that:

“We never sought to overturn the Future of Financial Advice reforms, we pursued some sensible adjustments to it, which made it more efficient and more effective.”

Labor made the laws a lot tougher in Government, and the Liberals tried to water them down.

The only reason we are learning about these shocking rorts and rip-offs is because Labor pushed for this Royal Commission – the Liberals wanted all of this to stay secret.