Introduction
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today at the opening of the CPA's two day Not-for-profit Conference in Sydney.
In May last year, I gave my first speech on NFP sector reform at the CPA's 2012 conference, and it's great to be back again in 2013.
The Gillard Government has a wide-ranging NFP sector reform agenda, focused on supporting and strengthening the NFP sector.
And as you will of course be aware, a lot has happened since May in terms of progressing the reforms which are important to help our NFP sector grow and thrive into the future.
That is what I would like to focus my remarks on today.
The Establishment of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission
As you will know, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) commenced operation on 3 December last year.
This followed the passage of the ACNC legislation at the beginning of November, following extensive public consultation and examination of the legislation by three Parliamentary Committees.
The establishment of the ACNC is the cornerstone of the Government's NFP sector reform agenda, so it was an honour to launch the ACNC at Mission Australia's Charcoal Lane restaurant in Melbourne on 10 December last year.
The commencement of the ACNC marked the beginning of what the Government hopes will be a new and exciting era for Australian charities.
For the first time they have the independent regulator which they have long been calling for.
A dedicated national regulator to help them to consolidate their strong standing in our community and drive work to cut red tape.
It's great to see all the positive work the ACNC has been doing since December, including holding 20 community presentations right across Australia which were attended by around 2000 people.
These were an opportunity for people to get to know the ACNC and its people face to face, and also provide feedback on the draft ACNC governance standards and the draft ACNC financial reporting framework.
The ACNC Governance Standards
The ACNC governance standards are a key part of the modernised regulatory framework which the ACNC will administer, and last Friday the Government announced that the governance standards will be tabled in Parliament this week.
The ACNC governance standards were developed through close consultation with stakeholders.
This consultation process involved conducting a roundtable with representatives from the NFP sector in November 2012 to seek feedback on possible draft governance standards.
Further feedback was sought by way of a consultation paper released in mid-December, and during the community presentations hosted by the ACNC which I mentioned just a few moments ago.
The ACNC governance standards provide a flexible, proportionate and outcomes-focussed approach to ensure that all stakeholders can be confident that a minimum standard of governance is being met across all charities.
In doing so, they will support our charities and ensure that the ACNC can act to protect the interests of stakeholders such as the recipients of social services, volunteers, donors and the broader public if necessary.
Throughout the consultation process, significant improvements were made to the ACNC governance standards and the Government thanks all stakeholders who have provided valuable feedback throughout this process.
They are proposed to commence on 1 July 2013, subject to the special Parliamentary scrutiny provisions of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012.
The Government is currently also in the process of finalising the ACNC financial reporting framework following public consultation, and these regulations will be made available soon.
Progress Towards a National Regulatory Framework
The Government knows that the NFP sector has long been calling for a streamlined national regulatory framework, rather than the complex and fragmented system that has been allowed to develop over time in an ad hoc manner.
The establishment of the ACNC has been the critical first step in delivering this smarter approach to NFP regulation.
As announced in October last year, South Australia is progressing changes to align its regulatory framework for incorporated associations and fundraising with the ACNC.
And today, we are announcing that the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) will also be signing up to the ACNC regulatory framework by making changes which will carve out charities registered by the ACNC from regulatory requirements under relevant ACT legislation, such as the Associations Incorporation Act 1991 (ACT) and the Charitable Collections Act 2003 (ACT).
There are some who are sceptical of the ability of Government to achieve a streamlined national approach to NFP regulation, however, the ACNC has only been operating for just over 3 months, and already two jurisdictions have signed up.
This demonstrates that there is growing momentum for delivering reform to cut red tape for the NFP sector right across Australia.
Of course, there is more work to do and the Commonwealth looks forward to working with other States and Territories to deliver similar positive outcomes.
Complementary Reforms
I would like to touch on two other initiatives being pursued by the Commonwealth Government which will benefit Australian charities.
Last Monday, Minister Wong announced that the Gillard Government will be introducing the Not-for-Profit Sector Freedom to Advocate Bill in this sitting of the Parliament to safeguard the rights of those operating in the not-for-profit sector to advocate in the interests of the community.
This will enact into legislation a key principle that has been reflected in this Government's policy approach since coming to office.
The Newman Government in Queensland has provided an example of the contempt that Coalition Governments can have for the NFP sector, by turning back the clock to the Howard Government era and imposing gag clauses on NFP organisations.
This Labor Government values the independence of the NFP sector and is committed to ensuring that the NFP sector is free to advocate in the interests of the community on public policy issues without fear of retribution.
The Not-for-Profit Sector Freedom to Advocate Bill is a further demonstration of this commitment.
Also last Monday, the Government launched the revised Commonwealth Grant Guidelines.
These revised Guidelines will support the ACNC's work to deliver a "report once, use often" reporting framework for the NFP sector based on the "Charity Passport".
The Charity Passport is a collection of data that charities will report once to the ACNC to meet the baseline corporate and financial reporting requirements of Australian Government agencies.
The revised Guidelines require that agency staff must not seek information from grant applicants and recipients that is already collected elsewhere in government and available to agency staff. It also means that agencies must have regard to information already collected by regulators.
In particular, agency staff must not request information that has already been provided to the ACNC by organisations regulated by it.
One of the key objectives of the ACNC is to drive red tape reduction, and these revised Guidelines will help ensure that Australian charities don't have to provide the same information over and over again to Government.
Conclusion
There are of course other NFP sector reform processes underway.
The NFP Sector Tax Concessions Working Group is currently working on its final report to Government, following public consultation on a wide variety of potential options for reform of NFP sector tax concessions. The Working Group will provide its final report and recommendations to Government in March.
The Government will also soon release exposure draft legislation for a Statutory Definition of Charity, which will aim to provide a clear and succinct definition of charity through codifying the existing Common Law definition.
We look forward to receiving stakeholder feedback on this exposure draft.
In concluding, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today about the Government's NFP sector reform agenda. The Government looks forward to continuing to work closely with you as we progress this agenda together.
And I wish you all the best for your conference, which I am sure will be an interesting and insightful opportunity to learn and share experiences.