Two Broome counsellors to represent those impacted in nationwide liquidation committee on junk funeral fund

Two Broome financial specialists and a Perth lawyer are spearheading a fight for financial justice, appointed members of an advisory committee charged with helping the liquidator of junk funeral fund Youpla Group in the interest of policy holders. Broome Circle financial counsellor Veronica Johnson, Bush Money Mob’s Alan Gray and Jackson McDonald lawyer Dan Butler were appointed alongside three others to the Committee of Inspection in a meeting held by liquidator David Michael Stimpson of SV Partners in Queensland on Tuesday. The committee will provide input to decision making during the liquidation of Youpla Group, previously known as the Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund, a funeral insurance fund which entered into voluntary administration in March following a request from the Australia Securities and Investment Commission for more information on the company’s financial viability. ASIC began investigating the ACBF after the 2018 Banking Royal Commission slammed the fund for falsely marketing itself as Indigenous-owned and selling insurance policies to vulnerable people including non-English speakers and children. The commission also found ACBF had cancelled more that 13,000 policies for non-payment, 6000 of which were because the Federal Government banned the fund from deducting money from clients’ welfare payments. In addition to the thousands of historical clients, the company’s collapse earlier this year left about 14,000 existing policy holders in the lurch. Ms Johnson has been helping ACBF clients for more than two years and says the committee will fight for all clients — historical or otherwise. “We’re pretty much representing all our clients plus people from the rest of Australia,” she said. “So there’s a lot of work to be done.” “Our goal is to get some money for those impacted. I think, at this point, people will be happy to get anything.” Ms Johnson has been working alongside Mr Butler at Broome Circle, walking clients through what they can expect from the liquidation process. And what is expected is a return of only a small fraction of what was lost — and for some, this is a loss of more than $10,000. But Mr Butler said while the committee would endeavour to represent the clients’ interests during the liquidation process, it would also communicate the proceedings to the clients. “The point of having people who know the process is so we can ask the right questions and suggest things that are useful,” he said. “We can then go back and explain what decisions are being made and why. “ The committee is expected to meet in Canberra later this year.