Submission on the Exposure Draft of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Bill

This submission responds to the exposure draft of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) Bill. Research Australia broadly supports the Bill’s aims of promoting good governance, accountability and transparency in not-for-profit (NFP) entities and reducing regulatory duplication, but maintains that the second aim matters more for the health and medical research sector. It acknowledges the value of a comprehensive public register of NFP entities, including for philanthropists, and proposes that during the transition to harmonised Commonwealth, State and Territory regulation the ACNC’s main role for existing entities should be creating that register and portal, with registration conditions limited to the information it needs. It maintains that existing NFP entities already regulated by other agencies should not have to meet ACNC governance requirements as a condition of registration. On specific clauses, it asks that ‘public benefits’ be defined and that the Bill clarify how much of an entity’s activity must provide them; that the 60-day registration timeframe become a deadline for a decision or a notice of delay; that entities only notify, rather than seek approval for, a change of accounting period; that a right of review apply to the Commissioner’s information-gathering powers; that failure to comply not be a strict liability offence; and that the Commissioner have a general power to refer matters to other authorities.