Do conflicts of interest exist in other professions?

Great article Phil! This highlights the double standards across the various professions, as ours always seems to get the short end of the straw! To paraphrase a famous quote from George Orwell's 'Animal Farm': all professions are equal, but some are more equal than others!!!

Great article Phil

"While the ethos of "the market" legitimises the pursuit of self-interest through the satisfaction of others' wants, the ethos of "the professions" aims to secure the public good through the subordination of self-interest in favour of serving the interests of others."

In the real world, the first part of this sentence applies to everyone in our market driven economy. Referral fees or inducements or whatever you want to call them are der rigueur in our economy across most occupations and professions-oiling the wheels .

Medical practices are a business, not a charity.

Some 20 years ago the then government tried to stop the monetary influence of pathology providers on GPs. It was claimed that the problem had been solved by close supervision by the professional bodies and Medicare, but it never was. Anyone who knows about the yearly Christmas parties put on by various procedural specialists, with open invitations to GPs and staff, knows that inducements are well and truly afoot in medical practice despite protests from both the medical profession and government.

This is the great issue with FASEA standard three. I have long suspected that ASIC were heavily influencing FASEA in the early stages of the development of standard three, because ASIC knew that under the Corporations Act, conflicts if disclosed could be managed.

ASIC is against any form of commission - it's in their DNA. So that recognizing that it might be politically difficult to convince the government to abolish life risk commissions and other commissions in total, their answer was to have a direct input into the drafting of standard three.Mission accomplished - all care, no responsibility. . Nothing to see here folks!

ASIC say it is possible for advisers to operate in the market on a competitive basis (hence their interests in fair and reasonable fees) but still require adherence to standard three. Very cute - ASIC built the bullet and FASEA fired the gun .

Phil, what you have set out in your article demonstrates the clear hypocrisy of the regulators & politicians in their approach to our sector. That this goes unchallenged by those who are head our various representative bodies shows the weak kneed incompetence of those individuals.