Member Q&A - Peter Bobbin

Tell us about your career and where it all started

If we don’t include time as a labourer and cinema manager, we can go back to 1982 when my professional life started at the lowest rung of auditor, first in Sydney, Australia, and for a time in Birmingham, UK. After world travel with my then-girlfriend (now wife), I returned to Australia in 1985 to become a tax accountant. Within a few years, I satisfied my yearning for the law and became a solicitor in 1988.

What led you into the trusts and estates field?

My combination of tax and accounting meant that I was destined to become a tax lawyer. At this time, in the beginning of my career, superannuation became the ‘hip’ thing. Even today, the Australian superannuation system is the last and greatest legal tax-minimisation trust structure in the world.

What has been your greatest professional achievement?

I wish to name three. In 2007, I helped create Future2, a charity for the Australian financial services professional, where I continue to be a director. In 2015, I was awarded Tax Advisor of the Year (SME) by my peers at the Taxation Institute of Australia. And finally, in 2020, I have been recognised as a pre-eminent estates lawyer.

You are the current Chair of STEP Australia, and prior to that you were Chair of STEP New South Wales for almost six years. What have been some highlights from this time?

The greatest highlight has been to watch a collection of STEP branches come together to create STEP Australia and thereby establish the Australia-wide potential of STEP and its members. It has given me the opportunity to call some of the best estate and trust planning professionals across Australia a friend.

How has the industry changed in this time?

The estate planning profession in Australia died in 1981 when ‘death duties’ were cancelled. However, it was reborn in the late 1980s and early 1990s with the many taxation and superannuation changes that were to come. In this sense, STEP in Australia has been with the newer, re-emerging estate planning professional since these early days.

What are some of STEP Australia’s plans for 2021 and beyond?

We intend to put STEP at the forefront of everybody’s mind as the professional leader in trust and estate planning. We are very keen to introduce the benefits of STEP membership and to significantly expand our member reach.

What do you think makes a successful, trusted advisor?

Care, compassion and imagination, combined with a very solid knowledge of your area of practice (law, accounting, financial management, etc.).

What are some of the challenges facing your jurisdiction and how might we overcome them?

From a STEP perspective, we are not well known enough among our peers or the public; we need to make some very professional noise.

What made you join STEP?

Two things attracted me: the first was the international affiliations that enabled me to embrace a world view; and the second was, of course, to enjoy the congeniality of my fellow like-minded professionals.

What would you say to members considering getting more involved?

If you have a passion to make a difference, no matter how small or large, STEP will provide the opportunity for you to achieve this.