The great debate

Speaking during a head-to-head face off with Charities Minister Andrew Leigh at the National Press Club in Canberra, Opposition Charities spokesman Senator Dean Smith also:

• pledged to investigate moving responsibility for the self-review assessments from the Australian Tax Office to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC)
  
• promised to extend the deadline for the return of the NFP self-review assessment

“(We will) explore with the ACNC the appropriateness and practicality of the commission itself managing the self-review assessment regime in place of the Australian Taxation Office,” said Smith.

A who’s who of Canberra’s leading charities, social enterprises and community foundations attended the Charities and Not-for-profit Pre-election Forum organised by the Community Council for Australia.

Nationwide sector leaders among the 150 strong audience included Australian Council of Social Services CEO Cassandra Goldie, Australian Democracy Network executive director Saffron Zomer and Australian Financial Complaints Authority commissioner David Locke.

The event also saw the launch of the latest edition of the Australia We Want report.

Up to 155,000 non charitable NFPs are required to lodge a self-review return with the ATO or risk losing their tax-exempt status.

As few as 30,000 are believed to have done so by the 31 March deadline imposed by the ATO, which has steadfastly defended its handling of the process.

Senator Smith, who initiated a Senate inquiry into the self-assessment rollout, has been a trenchant critic of the process, which has caused intense anxiety in the sector, particularly among smaller resource starved organisations.

Leigh however fired back, reminding the audience that the self-review process was kicked off by the former Coalition government.

“Our goal has been to make sure that this Coalition reform was implemented in a way that was minimally burdensome to organisations,” said Leigh.

“I do find it strange to be sitting next to a member of the Coalition who is attacking a Coalition policy which we have done our level best to implement in a way that minimizes the impact on the sector.”

The format of the forum allowed first Leigh and then Smith to each speak for 15 minutes, followed by questions from the floor.

Amid claims and counter claims of which side was better suited to meet the needs of the sector beyond the federal election and their records at achieving reform, Senator Smith used the occasion to announce that a Coalition government would kick off a fresh consultation process with the sector if elected.

“I announce today that a Coalition government will escalate our consultation with the sector by convening two ministerial level round-table discussions within the first six months of being elected.

“The initial roundtable will be convened in the first three months.”

Smith said the first roundtable would focus on improving cyber security protections, reducing the regulatory burden, and establishing greater contractual certainty in the charity and NFP sector.

He said the issues were identified in discussions between himself and sector leaders and were also key themes outlined in the Not-for-profit Sector Development Blueprint.

The comprehensive 84-page report commissioned by the federal government made 18 recommendations designed to secure the future of the sector.

Smith said that if elected, the Coalition would engage in a comprehensive consultation process with the sector on the Blueprint across all its 18 initiatives, a process Leigh indicated is already underway from the Albanese government’s perspective.

Smith said the timing of his sector roundtable initiative was no accident.

“The timing of this process is a conscious one that will allow for matters that have been progressed and agreed, to be imported into the budget process in year one, ensuring timely implementation,” he said.

Leigh went to great lengths to highlight the governments achievements in the charity and NFP sector since winning government.

Smith, however said there was widespread sector frustration at the pace of reform, with many recommendations in the Productivity Commission's inquiry into Philanthropy yet to be addressed.

Despite asking the government to directly respond to its Blueprint for the sector by 31 March, the Blueprint Expert Reference Group (BERG) has been met with silence from Canberra.

“My fear for the Not-for-profit Sector Blueprint …. is that it sits there idle, and nothing happens,” said Smith.

In response, Leigh said this couldn’t be further from the truth.

“We didn’t commission these reports so that they could sit on shelves gathering dust. We commissioned them so we could get working on them and we are moving quickly on that process.”

Earlier, Leigh argued that the Labor government had made significant progress to benefit the sector.

“It is no exaggeration to say that for nine years under the Coalition that we saw a war on charities.

“The Coalition came to office under the Abbott government promising to abolish the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission … They couldn't get that legislation through the Parliament, so they finally backed down, and when they did, they did the next best thing: They appointed Gary Johns as the head of the charities commission, a measure akin to putting Dracula in charge of the blood bank.

“This was not an appointment that was welcomed by the sector. It was seen by many for what it was: a direct attack on charities.”

Leigh cited examples of a women’s disability charity coming “under heavy scrutiny”, and attempts to quash the advocacy work of environmental, social services and legal charities.

He reminded the not-for-profit leaders in the room about the three open letters written to the then government calling on them to end the attacks.

Leigh said the Hands Off Our Charities Alliance had been rebranded the Stronger Charities Alliance under his watch.

“I think that says a lot about the relationship between the sector and us.”

Leigh challenged his opposite number to admit the Coalition had been wrong in those attacks and called for a promise that a Coalition goverment would not wind back advocacy protections now in place.

“We know that the coalition on issues such as the public service are taking its inspiration from the DOGE, which even right now the United States is going after non-government organisations.

“Charities need more than the listening. They need to guarantee that there will not be backsliding if Peter Dutton was to become Prime Minister.”

In response to questions from the Community Advocate, Leigh acknowledged even he would like to increase the pace of the many reforms that had been recommended by government and sector studies.

“I’m a runner, so I'm always keen to get to the finish line quicker and on issues like charitable fundraising harmonisation, I would love to see us moving in a quicker pace,” he said.

“But we’re now at a stage where all of the jurisdictions have committed to their roadmaps and the legislation has gone through everywhere except Western Australia and Queensland, where election timetables have been a challenge in terms of the Productivity Commission and the Blueprint report.”