Earlier this year ASIC released a consultation paper on online calculators.

It has now released its policy on the regulation of generic financial calculators (but not on calculators for specific financial products).

ASIC has issued a class order giving relief. Providers of generic
financial calculators will not require an Australian Financial Services
(AFS) licence with an advice authorisation or, if already licensed,
will not need to meet the conduct and disclosure requirements in Part
7.7 of the Corporations Act 2001  subject to certain conditions including the disclosure of the assumptions.

The financial calculator must also display to the user in the ordinary course of its use or have printed on it all of the following:
(i) a clear and prominent statement about the purpose and limitations of the calculator;
(ii) a clear and prominent explanation of why the default assumptions, including any statutory assumption, are reasonable for the purposes of working out the estimate;
(iii) a clear and prominent explanation of the impact of any significant limitation of the calculator;
(iv) where the estimate is of an amount payable at a future time—a clear and prominent statement specifying whether or not the estimate takes into account an assumed change in the cost of living between the time of the preparation of the estimate and the future time;
(v) a clear and prominent statement to the effect that the calculator is not intended to be relied on for the purposes of making a decision in relation to a financial product and that the user should consider obtaining advice from a financial services licensee before making any financial decisions.