Sector leaders outline priorities in the ‘Not-for-profit Agenda’

Posted on 05 Aug 2025

By Matthew Schulz, journalist, Institute of Community Directors Australia

Agenda guests v3 Aug 2025 — The Not-for-profit Agenda features a live Q&A and video reports from prominent sector figures.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has told the Not-for-profit Agenda that it will retain control of a controversial new tax status declaration required of many NFPs, despite calls for the charity administrator to take charge.

ATO assistant commissioner Jennifer Moltisanti is one of several senior figures appearing in the latest edition of the Institute of Community Directors Australia’s quarterly news webinar, which airs at 12.30pm AEST on Thursday, August 7.

She responds to concerns raised in last week’s Community Advocate, which revealed that just one in five of 155,000 affected organisations have lodged the new declarations, 10 months after they were first due.

Community Council for Australia chief executive David Crosbie argued in a comment piece last week that the policy had failed, and it was time for a new approach.

“The ATO administers the law, and the law hasn’t changed,” Moltisanti told Community Directors as part of a robust defence of her agency’s handling of the rollout, and an explanation of steps it has taken to simplify the process.

Tomorrow's free one-hour lunchtime presentation will be headlined by the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) chief executive, Cassandra Goldie.

Goldie is expected to assess the Albanese government’s performance as it approaches the 100-day milestone of its second term in office, outline the challenges for NFPs wanting to protect the vulnerable during the cost-of-living crisis, and set out ACOSS’s agenda for reform.

Alongside Goldie’s live Q&A, the Community Directors webinar will also feature a series of video reports from sector leaders:

Charities Minister Andrew Leigh outlining the government’s priorities
Community Council for Australia CEO David Crosbie on the “Australia we want”
Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) head Sue Woodward on emerging charity trends
the Paul Ramsay Foundation’s Liz Yeo on the foundation’s support of the “Pay what it takes” campaign
US-based NFP tech leader Marnie Webb on using tech to save democracy
Smith Family research chief Anne Hampshire on data tools that can do good
Cool.org's Thea Stinear on learning from a $150,000 tech failure.

Moltisanti spoke with Community Directors on the sidelines of the Governing for Good forum, hosted by the ACNC in Melbourne last week.