Beyond the rhetoric: Let’s rate this government on its performance

This is especially true in the post-truth era where any fact can be questioned, and people tend to believe what they need to believe to justify their own ideas about politics and life.

The danger with the messaging and attention-grabbing view of politics is that at its extreme there are no real measures of success, and there is very limited accountability. A politician can claim anything and then challenge any assertion that they are wrong or haven’t delivered what they claim – often by personally attacking anyone who criticises their policy.

In most of the public discourse about governments and policy, there is very little, if any, attempt to answer serious questions about policy outcomes and evidence of change. Factual policy analysis doesn’t fit into a media model dominated by superficial hyper-partisan debates focused on political point-scoring and short-term attention grabs. How outrageous.

Policies for charities and not-for-profits might be less controversial, but in some ways that makes it even more important that we do ask the policy outcome questions. What is the evidence that policies can deliver or have delivered real change for our sector? Do the words and policy intent of politicians and government officials match what is being delivered?

At the Community Council for Australia (CCA), we know it’s important to hold every government to account for delivering real outcomes for our sector. We need to see evidence of change beyond the encouraging words and offers of support.

There’s no doubt that in some areas the Albanese government and the Assistant Minister for Charities, Dr Andrew Leigh, have delivered positive changes for our sector over the last term of government.

There is also no doubt that some of what the incoming Albanese government said it would do for charities and community organisations has not been delivered, or has only partly been followed through.

Over the next couple of weeks CCA will seek informed views from across our sector about what areas of charities and community organisations policy have been advanced, and what have languished.

Our starting point in this endeavour is to seek your views about the implementation of the ALP’s pre-election platform for charities and community organisations.

This is what was promised:

1. establishment of an expert body to ensure the views of civil society are reflected in policy reform and initiatives to strengthen and build nourishing communities;
2. review the Recommendations of the 2010 Productivity Commission Report on the Not for Profit Sector;
3. development of a national working with vulnerable people (WWVP) registration to ensure consistency and traceability across jurisdictions and to improve the safety of vulnerable people;
4. work across jurisdictions to create a modern and standardised national fundraising framework, reducing red tape and improving charities' access to donors and philanthropists;
5. review and reform the funding models for contracted services to support longer-term planning and better service provision;
6. recognise that non-profit organisations are always better positioned than for-profit corporations to provide community services. In the procurement of community services, Labor will remove the practice of competing on labour costs by ensuring tenders and grant programs are sufficient and appropriately funded to provide for adequate and safe staffing levels, and fair and reasonable wages and conditions;
7. recognise that community led organisations have been an essential part of delivering services and building community capacity. Labor will prioritise funding for specialist services, including specialist services delivered by women, LGBTIQ, First Nations, disability and CALD groups;
8. ensure not-for-profits are free to advocate on behalf of their cause without fear of being deregistered as a charity and that advocacy itself is protected as a government funded activity of community organisations;
9. acknowledge and support the significance of volunteer recruitment and management in Australia, particularly in responding to natural disasters and COVID-19, and ensure that frontline volunteers are given suitable access to workplace safety needs, such as COVID- 19 vaccinations and protective equipment; and
10. support the not-for-profit sector in bridging the technological divide, so that more organisations, regardless of size or location, can access the digital economy and the productivity gains that technology can deliver.

The supporting ALP pre-election media release also talked about establishing a “‘Building Community – Building Capacity’ Working Group to bring new resources to the problem, publicise successful programs and demonstrate the social and economic value of better-connected communities.”

Tempted as I am to make my own observations about how the government has performed in implementing these policies, it will be much more useful, powerful and informative to have people from across our sector anonymously express their own views about the government’s performance measured against its pre-election commitments.

We want all political parties to know that if they make a policy commitment to our sector, we will be watching and monitoring the implementation. If we aren’t prepared to hold governments and political parties to account, we can’t expect our sector will be prioritised or taken seriously.

We hope you will join us in this endeavour by participating in a survey of sector leaders and experts to evaluate government progress on reform for our sector.

To participate, please email Deborah Smith, partnerships manager at the Community Council for Australia, at deborahs@communitycouncil.com.au and mention the survey.