Anglican Church of Australia
General Synod

25 January 2012

Manager
Philanthropy and Exemptions Unit
Personal and Retirement Income Division
The Treasury
Langton Crescent
PARKES	 ACT 2600

Dear Sir/Madam,

Submission to Treasury regarding Review of Not-for-Profit Governance Arrangements – Consultation Paper December 2011

I write to you in relation to the Review of Not-for-Profit Governance Arrangements – Consultation Paper December 2011 on behalf of the Anglican Church of Australia (“ACA”). 

Introduction

This submission is made by the Standing Committee of the General Synod of the Anglican Church of Australia. The General Synod is the principal governing body of the National Church and is constituted under the Constitution of the Anglican Church of Australia and meets ordinarily every three years. The Standing Committee acts in the interim.

The Anglican Church of Australia is a community of Christians scattered across Australia. Our ambition is to serve Christ faithfully in the circumstances of our daily lives. The Church is organised into 23 dioceses grouped into 5 provinces or regions. As well as dioceses and parishes there are many different organisations in areas such as education, health, mission, social welfare and communications which are part of the Anglican Church. 

Our welfare organisations include Anglicare, Samaritans and Anglican Retirement Villages. There are around 145 Anglican schools in Australia, providing for more than 105,000 children.

Anglicare Australia is a National Church Network that provides services to children, young people, families, refugees and migrants, indigenous Australians, older people, the homeless and unemployed Australians. The 43 Anglicare member agencies provided services to over 512,340 persons in 2029 locations in 2008-2009. The annual expenditure totaled $624 million.

The Consultation Paper

We have considered the Review of Not-for-Profit Governance Arrangements – Consultation Paper December 2011 and have reviewed and contributed to the submission of the Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney (copy submitted by the Sydney Diocese separately).

The Anglican Church of Australia is in agreement with the submissions made by the Anglican Diocese of Sydney and supports the points raised in that submission.

In regards to specific questions regarding the technical content of the submission of the Anglican Diocese of Sydney can I ask that you contact the Diocesan Secretary of the Anglican Church Diocese of Sydney, Mr Robert Wicks, whose contact details are:

Mr Robert Wicks
Diocesan Secretary
Anglican Church Offices
PO Box Q190
QVB Post Office NSW 1230
Phone: (02) 92651671
Fax: (02) 92651634
Email: rjw@sydney.anglican.asn.au

We very much appreciate the opportunity to work with the Australian Government on improving the regulation of the charities and not-for-profit sector.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Drevikovsky
General Secretary

Direct Telephone:  +61 (0)2 82672701
Mobile Telephone:  +61 (0)418 476937
Email:  generalsecretary@anglican.org.au