Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Bill 2012; Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Bill 2012; Tax Laws Amendment (Special Conditions for Not-for-profit Concessions) Bill 2012
Information about the Inquiry
On 23 August 2012 the Senate jointly referred the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Bill 2012 and the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Bill 2012 and the Tax Laws Amendment (Special Conditions for Not-for-profit Concessions) Bill 2012 for inquiry and report.
On 23 August 2012, the House of Representatives referred the below bills to the Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) on Corporations and Financial Services:
- Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Bill 2012;
- the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Bill 2012; and
- the Tax Laws Amendment (Special Conditions for Not-for-profit Concessions) Bill 2012 respectively.
The Bills will establish an independent, national regulator for the charities and not-for-profit sector. The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) will be one stop shop for charities and not-for-profit organisations to provide streamlined information to the Commission. The Commission will determine their charitable status and pass on officially required data to other Commonwealth agencies, including the Tax Office.
The preamble to the bill states that it is important that a national regulatory system that promotes good governance, accountability and transparency for not-for-profit entities be introduced to maintain, protect and enhance public trust and confidence in the not-for-profit sector. It is therefore necessary to establish a Commissioner of the ACNC who will focus on the not-for-profit sector and will recognise and respond to the diversity and uniqueness of the sector.
The same bills have been referred by the Senate to the Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee. The website for that inquiry can be found here:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/Completed_inquiries/2010-13/charitiescommission/index. You are invited to make a submission to one or both inquiries. Both inquiries provide stakeholders with the opportunity to comment on the three bills.
The House of Representatives Standing Committee recently tabled its report into the draft legislation for the ACNC bill and the Consequential and Transitional bill. That committee's report can be found here:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=economics/nonprofit/report.htm. The government has stated that it has adopted the 11 recommendations made by House Committee.
Submissions should be received by 30 August 2012. The reporting date is 10 September 2012.
The Committee is seeking written submissions from interested individuals and organisations preferably in electronic form submitted online or sent by email to corporations.joint@aph.gov.au as an attached Adobe PDF or MS Word format document. The email must include full postal address and contact details.
Alternatively, written submissions may be sent to:
Committee Secretary
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
Notes to help you prepare your submission are available from the website at http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/wit_sub/index.htm. Alternatively, the Committee Secretariat will be able to help you with your inquiries and can be contacted on telephone +61 2 6277 3583 or facsimile +61 2 6277 5719 or by email to corporations.joint@aph.gov.au.
Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to Parliament House TTY number 02 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools at http://access.adobe.com/ for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. If you require any special arrangements to enable you to participate in the Committee's inquiry, please contact the Committee Secretariat.
Once the Committee accepts your submission, it becomes a confidential Committee document and is protected by Parliamentary Privilege. You must not release your submission without the Committee's permission. If you do, it will not be protected by Parliamentary Privilege. At some stage during the inquiry, the Committee normally makes submissions public and places them on its website. Please indicate if you want your submission to be kept confidential.
For further information, contact:
Committee Secretary
Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia