ACNC still operating until further notice: Pascoe
A senate committee inquiry, which handed down its final report on Monday, failed to break the deadlock between the government and other parties over the ACNC’s proposed axing.
Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commissioner Susan Pascoe has confirmed the national charity regulator will continue operating until the ACNC Act is repealed by Parliament.
A senate committee inquiry, which handed down its final report on Monday, failed to break the deadlock between the government and other parties over its proposed axing. A majority committee report supported its abolition, while two dissenting minority reports, from Labor and the Australian Greens, recommended the regulator continue.
Ms Pascoe said the repeal bill and the Senate inquiry had caused confusion and uncertainty for parts of Australia’s charity sector over the past few months but that the ACNC remained Australia’s charity regulatory body until the Parliament voted otherwise.
She said charities were still obliged to meet the immediate reporting requirement to submit their Annual Information Statement by 30 June.
“We will continue to build Australia’s first credible, free public national charity register and we will continue to ensure public trust and confidence in the sector is maintained while the ACNC Act is in force,” she said.
ACNC advisory board chairman Robert Fitzgerald said the senate’s majority report recommended the ACNC Act be repealed despite 80 per cent of committee submissions favouring its retention.
Mr Fitzgerald said the dismantling of the ACNC would be retrograde step. “The effect of the majority opinion would be to undermine basic transparency, the tackling of duplicative reporting and proven and effective regulation.”
He said if the repeal bill was passed, the Australian government was going against the tide and would return to a flawed and ad hoc regulatory system.
However, Mr Fitzgerald said it was a credit to the ACNC that all three reports recognised how much work the Commission had achieved in a relatively short space of time.
Labor Senators Mark Bishop and Louise Pratt said the evidence in favour of retaining the ACNC was compelling.
The Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said that before any decision on the ACNC’s future was made, the Government should have undertaken a full and proper open process of consultation that reached out to the sector.
“This disregard for the input of the sector and lack of process or planning is a key reason why the Australian Greens are opposed to this legislation proceeding,” she said.
The Liberal senators said the ACNC had unnecessarily increased red tape for many charities and would be replaced by a National Centre for Excellence.
