Labor proposes to establish a Financial Rights Fund if it wins the upcoming federal election, which will assist victims of misconduct in the financial services sector. This ‘fairness’ fund will be financed via a new levy on Australia’s largest financial institutions, and is slated to raise $160m annually over four years. This is in addition to the federal government’s existing 0.06% bank levy.
Amongst other things, Labor’s levy would be used to provide consumers with free financial counselling and significantly increase the number of government-funded financial counsellors. From The AFR:
