Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Hansard source

Typically, the government has introduced landmark legislation to regulate charities and not-for-profits which has been debated in this House. Then the government has felt the need to come in and amend their own legislation, because they are so incompetent that they were incapable of getting their legislation right in the first place.

One of the amendments the government is moving tonight has to do with the schools portfolio, which is my portfolio. In the so-called consultations they had with the education sector, they discovered very quickly that the changes to the treatment of charities and not-for-profits dramatically increased the red tape requirements of charities and not-for-profits, which meant that every single school—every single non-government school as well as government schools with trusts and foundations and not-for-profit instruments—suddenly found itself overwhelmed with red tape that it would not have otherwise have to comply with. They also found that a bill that was designed to harmonise state and federal regulations in fact introduced an entirely new level of regulation.

The Assistant Treasurer did not even do the House the courtesy of explaining the amendments he was moving in the House tonight. He simply stood up and moved that amendments (1) to (9) as circulated be agreed to. He did not even do the House the courtesy of explaining what these amendments mean to the national charities and not-for-profit sector. So I assume that these are the amendments that affect schools. He did not explain them, because he does not know what he is doing. And I was making the point—

Mr Perrett interjecting—

Mr Dreyfus interjecting—

Oh, come on, Rumpole. You have only been here one term; you do not really know what you are doing.

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