Unlawful activity - changes to the governance standards for registered charities

This consultation process has now been completed. Submissions available
Date
-
Consultation Type
Exposure Draft

Key Documents

Treasury is seeking submissions on the draft legislative instrument and explanatory materials for changes to governance standard three in the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Regulation 2013 to expand the scope of impermissible activities that registered charities must not engage in or promote others to engage in.

In response to recommendation 20 of the Strengthening for Purpose: Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Legislation Review 2018, released on 6 March 2020, the Government committed to explore legislative options to address uncertainty in the law. The amendments will include that, in addition to the current governance standard, registered charities:

  • must not engage in conduct that may be dealt with as a summary offence relating to real property, personal property or persons under an Australian law; and
  • must take reasonable steps to ensure their resources are not used, nor continued to be used, to promote or support any entity to engage in unlawful activities prohibited under the standard.

The purpose of governance standard three is to give the public confidence that a registered charity is governed in a way that is sustainable and consistent with its purposes, and that it protects its assets, reputation and the people it works with. The amendments are intended to ensure that governance standard three is more consistent with the disqualifying purposes set out in the Charities Act 2013.

Please refer to the FAQs for more information.

Submissions

66 submissions were received for this consultation, including 3 confidential submissions.

ActionAid - pdf 202.54 KB
Allan, Alistair - pdf 35.78 KB
Anglicare Australia - pdf 424.79 KB
Arnold Bloch Leibler - pdf 345.9 KB
Australian Red Cross - pdf 228.44 KB
Auxilium Foundation - pdf 61.78 KB
Bob Brown Foundation - pdf 139.13 KB
Callan, Ken - pdf 51.09 KB
Carmel, Serena - pdf 35.45 KB
CMA Standards Council - pdf 292.57 KB
DF Mortimer & Associates - pdf 679.64 KB
Farm Animal Rescue - pdf 261.82 KB
Freedom for Faith - pdf 281.42 KB
Human Rights Law Centre - pdf 231.77 KB
Justice Connect - pdf 405.29 KB
Law Council of Australia - pdf 286.65 KB
Midnyte City - pdf 70.33 KB
Missions Interlink - pdf 192.45 KB
Morris Family Foundation - pdf 386.37 KB
Neami National et al - pdf 211.67 KB
Oxfam Australia - pdf 241.8 KB
Philanthropy Australia - pdf 180.28 KB
Prolegis Lawyers - pdf 189.09 KB
Queensland Law Society - pdf 250.79 KB
Rafe Consulting - pdf 60.28 KB
Rolph, Bruce - pdf 84.09 KB
Rubinsztein, Nicolette - pdf 122.16 KB
Small Giants Group - pdf 131.71 KB
Suosaari, Bradley - pdf 56.05 KB
UnitingCare Australia - pdf 249.04 KB
World Animal Protection - pdf 119.52 KB