This is how a job as chairman of ASIC ends – not with a bang, but a whimper. And a report, 40 pages abridged, that found you might have done something wrong but that Treasury would have to try harder to figure out what. Even the eyebrow-raising decision to not provide important documents to investigators until after they closed their investigation did not suggest “a lack of diligence”.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg was given the option of pursuing further legal action and chose not to take it. James Shipton has been allowed to return to his job for long enough to help choose a successor and will no doubt go on to a long and fruitful career in consulting, as many former public servants do.
But Vivienne Thom’s independent review paints a picture of a bloated and ineffective regulator. There was a “consistent lack of clarity” about who should be responsible for looking into the Australian National Audit Office’s (ANAO) concern around Mr Shipton’s tax advice. ASIC failed to agree to capped advice and then failed to investigate when the cost of that advice skyrocketed, and the actions of those involved in the whole affair “may be open to question” and could display “a lack of quality assurance”.
Other fascinating takeaways from the review include that Mr Shipton’s legal counsel arguing that the ASIC code of conduct did not apply to Mr Shipton (or any ASIC chair) and that Mr Shipton himself was concerned about the sky-high fee for tax advice, sending an email to staff querying how the fee had increased six times over when the information given to KPMG was exactly the same.
It all sounds like a car crash at a snail’s pace, and left the regulator without leadership when it needed it most. Now it’s time for a refresh. The undignified scramble some high-ranking ASIC employees launched when it became apparent the position was open has not resulted in any frontrunners. Whoever Mr Frydenberg puts in the top job – and a decision will supposedly come in the next three months – will have their work cut out for them, not only in wrangling dodgy operators but the regulator itself.
