"An industry fund that limits you to asx300 shares and a few ETF's and with a limited % in any one investment is certainly a safer bet."
Yes, I would agree with that. To me it just seems a bit of a ripoff if they charge you $18 to buy/sell shares and then charge you another 0.5% to manage the fund. On top of that, any ETFs you hold will charge you typically 0.5-1% to manage the ETF. So, if I did it that way with my portfolio it would cost me around $20,000 extra per year. (10k in brokerage and 10k in fees and costs)
What about the fully franked dividends. Do you get the franking credits? NO. So more ripoff.