Four Corners Last Night

[icyfroth]

...was an excellent show and the reason why I accidently caught the Q&A fracas which followed.

Last night's Four Corners investigated the CBA' financial planning scandal:

Insider Exposed CBA's Financial Planning Scandal

The man at the centre of the Commonwealth Bank financial planning scandal  that sparked a senate inquiry has lashed out at the bank, claiming it never  properly trained him or supervised his activities. 

Don Nguyen, one of eight CBA financial planners banned by the Australian  Securities and Investments Commission from providing financial advice until  2018, claims nobody at the bank ever said to him: “Don, this is too much, don’t  do this.”

Mr Nguyen allegedly forged signatures, overcharged fees and created  unauthorised investment accounts for his customers without their permission. The  bank paid hundreds of his clients more than $20 million in compensation. 

Banking Bad will also examine a case where CBA denied a dying man,  Noel Stevens, a payout on his life insurance policy. In the final months of his  life, Mr Stevens was forced to fight for what was rightfully his. The case  highlights the inherent conflicts of interest in bank tellers and financial  planners earning a commission for selling bank products.

[icyfroth]

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@the_great_she_elephant wrote:

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@icyfroth wrote:

The ABC puts on some excellent shows, Deb, OH and I watch it a lot.

Unfortunately it has lost it's way a bit:

"FOLLOWING the 1996 election, Prime Minister John Howard said of the ABC: "I think one of the weaknesses of the ABC is that it doesn't have a right-wing Phillip Adams." It was a gentle yet serious reminder that our taxpayer-funded national broadcaster is charged with reflecting the diversity of the Australian community under section 6 of its Charter.

Almost 18 years on, the ABC has grown in size but has still refused to address the lack of balance in its vast line-up of journalists - unless you count one hour per week of Counterpoint as balance.

Instead, as Margaret Simons wrote in her 2005 essay, the then director of radio, Sue Howard, had a cartoon on her office wall. Featuring a cage, broken apart, with two people standing nearby, one says "Oh Lord. The Right-Wing Phillip Adams has escaped." Presumably, in humorous ABC circles, a person with right-wing views must be locked up.

From Here

'Eight years later, the ABC under Scott has failed on every measure. The ABC is still not our ABC and the ritual dance of defensiveness has continued. The great danger behind the smugness that has set in at the ABC under Scott's stewardship is clear. By ignoring its compact with the Australian people, its owners, as set out in its Charter, the ABC risks losing legitimacy as a worthy part of our media and cultural landscape. If that happens, the smugness among ABC staff will surely go but so will the ABC.'

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Are you suggesting that last nights Four Corners was a biased, unjustified,left wing swipe at the current Government and conservative values?

No.

Because if you weren't then I can't for the life of me see the relevance of this post.

Simply illustrating that while the ABC puts on some outstanding shows, it also demonstrates it's unabashed bias to the left in other shows.

I'm sorry if that was unclear

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[lakeland27]

unfortunately the right can't produce a philip adams , all they can dribble out are gerard hendersons , piers akermans and miranda devines

[freakiness]

This so called ABC bias is just another myth. Whenever people conduct some research on the perceived bias of the ABC they inevitably find that there is no bias to the left, some have found slight bias to the right.

It is obvious those who complain the most on here about QandA do not watch QandA. If they did they would surely stop with the panel stacked with lefties nonsense.  When did the IPA become a leftist group? And Newscorp?  When did Judith Sloane, Miranda Devine, Amanda Vanstone, Chrissie Pyne, Tony Shepherd and Peter Reith become lefties?

At least Gillard was courageous enough to appear and to answer the questions put to her, as was Rudd.  Abbott is such a chicken little that he is too scared to front up.

[lakeland27]

Not to mention shielding turnbull from prickly NBN questions he cant answer . last week the ABC definitely granted mal special treatment (he probably threw a tantrum and refused to show up unless )

ABC actively censors NBN issue on Q&A   http://delimiter.com.au/2014/04/29/abc-actively-censors-nbn-issue-qa/

[lakeland27]

whoops wrong thread .

[freakiness]

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@lakeland27 wrote:

Not to mention shielding turnbull from prickly NBN questions he cant answer . last week the ABC definitely granted mal special treatment (he probably threw a tantrum and refused to show up unless )

ABC actively censors NBN issue on Q&A   http://delimiter.com.au/2014/04/29/abc-actively-censors-nbn-issue-qa/

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Yep, Van got a quick word in and was told to leave it until later when they got onto that subject.  Unfortunately later never came.  Some NBN supporters could not even tweet questions in last week.

[lakeland27]

 yes, nobody seems very happy with what transpired. on a brighter note i have some new boxes on my wall the technician is coming friday to complete the job, the existing conduit was OK so there was no mess or digging.

[freakiness]

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@lakeland27 wrote:

 yes, nobody seems very happy with what transpired. on a brighter note i have some new boxes on my wall the technician is coming friday to complete the job, the existing conduit was OK so there was no mess or digging.

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Woohoo, exciting. In most places the existing conduit is fine to use.  I've seen very little digging up of anything.  The little I have seen was repaired without drama and is not noticeable.  

[lakeland27]

No , it was something i assumed was necessary due to (too many reasons to go into here)  but not so . 

[fourandsixpants]

Ban on bank teller sales of financial  products to be lifted.....

March  14, 2014

The Coalition government is pushing  to change the law so that bank tellers can sell an unlimited range of financial products across the counter.

Laws were introduced last year by the former Labor government to better  protect consumers seeking financial advice following a string of financial  planning disasters that cost investors billions of dollars.

Under Labor's  reforms most commissions and other types of ''conflicted''  remuneration - pay that can influence the type of advice provided - is banned.  Conflicted pay includes non-monetary kickbacks for achieving sales targets and higher commissions for recommending one product over another.

Conflicted pay is banned whether financial products are sold under  ''general'' advice or by financial advisers under ''personal'' advice; though  commissions are allowed on some types of insurance.

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But now the Abbott government is proposing that bank tellers, planners and  call-centre workers for  deposit-taking institutions - banks, credit unions and  building societies - be exempt from the ban on conflicted pay as long as the advice is general. Tellers selling more complex products would have to do some  additional training. The government hopes to introduce the first of several  amendments  to Parliament next week.

Leon Carter, national secretary of the Financial Sector Union, said: ''This is what the banks lobbied for; they want to have unfettered access to every  customer and they want their staff to sell regardless of the needs of the  customer.''

Matt Levey, director of campaigns at consumer group Choice, said the  amendment  would mean more people were given general advice by tellers who had  the incentive of commissions. Fewer people would likely receive personal advice,  he said. ''It is a sales pitch driven by a commission with no relevance to the  person's financial circumstances,'' he said.

Under Labor's changes,  general advice on simple banking products, such as  term deposits and general insurance, continued to be exempt from the bans. The  government's  amendment widens that to any financial product as long as the  advice is general.

Federal Assistant Treasurer Arthur Sinodinos said this amendment and others  were needed to cut red tape and reduce the costs of doing business.

Senator Sinodinos told ABC's Lateline on Tuesday that bank tellers would have to tell customers that the advice is general and does not take into  account their personal circumstances. Customers who received general advice would be subject to a cooling-off period. John Flavell, executive general manager of wealth advice at National Australia Bank, said the exemption for general advice was needed.

http://www.smh.com.au/money/planning/ban-on-bank-teller-sales-of-financial-products-to-be-lifted-201...