Federal government lays out NFP sector reform agenda

His comments come as the Opposition called for more moves to slash red tape and the sector largely welcomed Labor’s re-election, but flagged the need increase the pace of those reforms.

Dr Leigh, who is now the Assistant Minister for Competition, Productivity, Charities and Treasury – following the addition of productivity to his portfolio – said the government would prioritise the implementation of key sector reviews.

“It’s been a big term for charities,” he said.

“We’ve appointed a new head of the charities commission (Sue Woodward), we’ve reformed the deductible gift recipient (DGR) system for a range of different charities, including harm prevention and overseas aid charities. We’ve protected charitable advocacy, and we’ve worked with states and territories on harmonising charitable fundraising.”

Govt to act on major reviews

Speaking at a pre-election debate with his Opposition counterpart Senator Dean Smith at the Press Club in Canberra, Leigh said the government’s next term would focus on acting on the findings of two major reports: the Productivity Commission inquiry into philanthropy and the sector-driven NFP Sector Development Blueprint.

“The next term (will) be focused on implementing the recommendations of the two big reports we’ve had handed down,” he said.

Leigh reaffirmed the government’s goal to double philanthropic giving by 2030 and said the government would move on “legislating a range of the reforms that we’ve announced,” including removing a $2 donation threshold for tax-deductible donations and changes to allow the charities commissioner to publicly discuss investigations in the public interest.

He said that fundraising reform was also progressing well.

“All of the States and territories [have] agreed to reform blueprints on charitable fundraising harmonisation, and all but two have passed the necessary legislation through their parliaments.”

Leigh said the government had brought more diversity to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) advisory board which now included state and territory representatives, youth, and First Nations representation.

Asked about the frustration about the pace of promised reforms, Leigh drew attention to the far more cooperative approach Labor had brought to the sector.

Under Labor, there was “a government strongly committed to supporting charitable advocacy and charities” unlike “an opposition whose track record in government was to be driving the car backwards,” he said.

He criticised the Coalition’s “terrible record on charitable advocacy” and contrasted his appointment of Sue Woodward, a long-time sector advocate to head the ACNC with her predecessor Gary Johns, “who had made his career as a charities critic”.

“That's the difference between Labor and Liberal on the issue of charities. We back and support charities. The Coalition right now are trying to strip charities of their charitable status.”

Senator Smith had promised that the Coalition would continue to battle the red tape faced by not-for-profits, by:

• setting financial thresholds to exempt smaller not-for-profits from completing the controversial new self-review tax assessment.
• considering moving responsibility for the self-review assessments from the Australian Tax Office to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC)
• extending the deadline for the return of the NFP self-review assessment.

Push to ease red tax change red tape

Asked about the slow take up of the not-for-profit self-review return, with less than 25% of organisations meeting the ATO deadline, Leigh said the government had worked to make the ATO measure less burdensome.

“We’ve worked constructively with the charity sector,” he said. “We’re very aware of the importance of ensuring that that reform comes into place in a way that is least burdensome to charities.”

He noted that the measure originated from the Coalition and the current government had “set about working out how it could be implemented because they hadn’t done any work on that.”

This included increasing staffing at the ATO and assuring organisations they would not be penalised if they were committed to doing the right thing.

Majority government is better placed to enact reforms: Leigh

In response to a recent survey of not-for-profit leaders that showed 37% believed a minority government would have delivered more benefits to the sector, Leigh argued that it was a majority Labor government that was in their best interests.

“If you're keen on reform, you want majority governments because majority governments can get things done more expeditiously than minority governments. We need to get a whole lot of reforms through in order to help the charity and not for profit sector. We've got the reports done, now's the time for action and that legislative action will happen more speedily under a majority government”.

Sector welcomes Labor victory but flags more work ahead

The not-for-profit and charity sector largely welcomed the Albanese government’s historic election win but urged the new government to get on with much-needed reforms.

ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie was among several sector leaders suggesting that the government must be bolder in delivering on its promise of leaving no-one behind.

“We welcome the Prime Minister’s recognition that there is still much more to do to help people under pressure. He is absolutely right,” she said.

“Millions across the country cannot afford the basics of life, including food, rent, medicine and power bills and we are facing a worsening climate crisis.”

Read more sector reaction here.

More information

Leigh vs Smith in the pre-election debate