The Parliament has an opportunity this week to send a message Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg that it will not allow the subversion of proper democratic process.
 
The senate must disallow new rules, introduced by regulation after Parliament rose for the Christmas break, that undermine confidence in our financial markets.
 
Proxy advisors serve a vital purpose in our open market system by providing independent advice to institutional investors about resolutions at Annual General Meetings.
 
Proxy advisors are licensed and have been the subject of several inquiries which have found no case for regulatory change.
 
Yet Mr Frydenberg and Mr Morrison have taken it upon themselves to bypass Parliament to introduce draconian new regulations without warning or justification.
 
Proxy advisors will now be forced to give their independent reports to the subject of the report before they give it to their clients or face an $11 million fine.
 
This is akin to forcing a commercial lawyer to hand over confidential client conversations to the other side of a legal dispute.
 
Abrupt changes like this, introduced without proper debate or process, damage the regulatory stability on which our open market system depends.
 
And they diminish transparency that, in times of volatility, investors large and small need now more than ever.
 
Our sophisticated financial system needs a mature, deliberative Government to set appropriate rules without fear or favour.
 
Labor is committed to ditching this latest Liberal attempt to undermine market transparency and stability they claim to hold so dear.