‘I know Senator Cormann was cranky yesterday but the olive branch is well and truly out,’ independent tells ABC

The independent senator Nick Xenophon says there is scope for compromise on the government’s controversial financial planning regulations, despite his successful effort with crossbench colleagues to torpedo them on Wednesday.



Xenophon told the ABC on Thursday morning he was offering an olive branch to the finance minister, Mathias Cormann, after the boilover in the Senate on Wednesday. “I think there is some scope for some sensible compromises,” he said. “I know Senator Cormann was cranky yesterday but the olive branch is well and truly out.”

The independent teamed up with the Palmer United party rebel Jacqui Lambie, the Australian Motoring Enthusiast party senator Ricky Muir, the independent John Madigan, Labor and the Greens on Wednesday to disallow the government’s future of financial advice regulations.

The former Labor government introduced the Fofa package to increase protection for consumers obtaining advice from financial planners.

After winning last year’s election, the Abbott government moved to wind back some of Labor’s changes. But Wednesday’s successful disallowance means the system will revert to its previous form.

Wednesday’s events in the Senate also revealed the fracturing of the PUP voting bloc in the upper house.

The government had gathered the numbers to pass its preferred Fofa regime this year courtesy of support from PUP and Muir. Lambie and Muir told the Senate on Wednesday they had made a mistake in supporting the deal because the changes were bad for consumers. Both senators signalled an intention to vote independently in future.

Xenophon dismissed the government’s arguments that Wednesday’s developments would drive up the cost of financial advice, reduce competition and throw the sector into regulatory chaos. “I accept that Mathias Cormann is using Orwellian language. It is simply ridiculous,” the South Australian said on Thursday morning.

But he said he hoped he could resume dialogue with Cormann and the government and other groups in the Senate after the finance minister had a “Bex and a lie down.” Xenophon said he was prepared to sit down with the industry and consumer groups and the government and fellow senators to find common ground.

Cormann, in a separate interview on the ABC, said the debate had been hijacked by “vested commercial interests”. The finance minister said the government’s overhaul of Fofa had kept necessary consumer protection but eliminated unnecessary red tape.

The minister – who launched an unsuccessful procedural filibuster on Wednesday in an effort to derail the disallowance – said agreement with the crossbench might still be possible. “Let’s see. We now have until 30 June to continue the conversation. Let’s see where we end up.”