Minister steps up moves to remove secrecy muzzle from ACNC

Charities Minister Andrew Leigh said the ACNC was currently “muzzled” when it came to disclosing investigations or their outcomes to the public.

The minister released a statement confirming the government plans to push ahead with legislative changes following Canberra’s announcement in the May budget of $2.9 million in extra funding over the next four years and a further $600,000 per year after that for the charities regulator to deliver on the planned reforms.

Current secrecy provisions prevent the ACNC from disclosing:

• whether it is investigating alleged misconduct by a charity
• the outcomes of investigations
• the reasons for revoking the registration of a charity.

Speaking on ABC radio, Mr Leigh said the current situation limits the ability of the public and charities to learn from ACNC regulatory activities.

“The situation is the charities commission is basically muzzled when it comes to telling us what investigations it's doing,” he said.

“Now, often that's important for due process, that it doesn't disclose the investigation’s afoot until it finds evidence of wrongdoing.

“[But] sometimes it can actually be useful to set the public's mind at rest that the watchdog is on the job.”

Mr Leigh said the Albanese government takes the integrity of the charity sector seriously.

He said the government is changing the law to allow the charities commission in exceptional circumstances to disclose that an investigation is underway.

“We think that'll improve public confidence in the charity sector and it puts the charities commission on par with its counterparts in other countries and with similar agencies in Australia.”

The changes enable the ACNC to publish information to increase public understanding of registration and compliance decisions for educational purposes, with the aim of improving transparency and accountability in the charity sector.

When asked why the current ACNC secrecy provisions exist, Mr Leigh said the answer came partly down to workload.

“If you've got to make a decision about whether you go public with certain claims, then of course you've got to go through the lawyers and make sure that you've got your i's dotted and your t's crossed,” he said.

Mr Leigh said the ACNC had evolved in the decade since it was established, and with responsibility for regulating more than 60,000 charities, it is now better placed to handle the task of not only investigating but commenting on complex investigations.

“It's growing up, it's maturing into the sort of agency that is able to talk to the public about some of those investigations.”