Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) charities are the most trusted sector in Australian public life;

(b) charities employ over one million Australians and contribute nearly one-tenth of Australia's national income;

(c) charities are the first line of support for the most vulnerable in our communities during times of economic and social upheaval;

(d) meeting the requirements of Australia's seven different fundraising regimes is wasting the time and energy of Australian charities and not-for-profit organisations; and

(e) the Government's failure to act on fundraising reform is costing Australian charities over $1 million every month;

(2) recognises that:

(a) for several years, the charity and not-for-profit sector has been calling for reform of Australia's fundraising laws;

(b) Treasury's 5 year review of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, delivered on 31 May 2018, identified fundraising law as the major reporting burden on charities and recommended that fundraising law be harmonised across the country;

(c) on 14 February 2019, the Senate Select Committee on Charity Fundraising in the 21st Century called on parliament to harmonise fundraising law within two years;

(d) that inquiry, chaired by Labor Senator Catryna Bilyk, delivered a unanimous report, with its recommendations being supported by Greens Senator Rachel Siewert, Liberal Senators Eric Abetz and Amanda Stoker, former Labor Senator David Smith, and former United Australia Party Senator Brian Burston;

(e) throughout 2020, the National COVID-19 Coordination Commission's Not for Profit Working Group, the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, and the Charities Crisis Cabinet have all identified harmonisation of fundraising laws as a key initiative in helping Australian charities provide strong support for our communities; and

(f) failure to deliver fundraising reform has significant costs to the charity and not-for-profit sector, with the Senate Select Committee on Charity Fundraising in the 21st Century report estimating that the annual cost to charities and their donors is around $15 million; and

(3) calls on the Government to:

(a) apologise to Australian charities for failing to meet the two-year timeframe set out in the Senate Select Committee on Charity Fundraising in the 21st Century report;

(b) now commit to support Australian charities and the communities they serve by ending unnecessary waste of their precious resources;

(c) support the generous Australian donors who donate money to our charities, by ensuring their donations are not needlessly eroded by redundant administrative and regulatory costs; and

(d) confirm a timeline for the commencement of a consistent national model for regulating not-for-profit and charitable fundraising activities.

We tell our kids, 'Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today.' Fix the leaky roof now. Don't wait until it rains. It's not as though the Morrison government hasn't been warned about the importance of fixing fundraising. There has been a slew of recommendations calling on the Morrison government to fix the outdated patchwork of fundraising laws that currently requires a charity that wants to raise money on the internet to register in seven different jurisdictions. Treasury's five-year review of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, delivered on 31 May 2018, identified fundraising law as the major reporting burden on charities. The national COVID commission's not-for-profit working group called on the government to fix fundraising. The Charities Crisis Cabinet has called for it. The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements contains recommendation 21.2: 'Australian, state and territory governments should create a single national scheme for the regulation of charitable fundraising.'

Most importantly, the Senate Select Committee on Charity Fundraising in the 21st Century, on 14 February 2019, called on parliament to harmonise fundraising law within two years. This was not simply a Labor report. It was brilliantly chaired by Senator Catryna Bilyk, but its recommendations were supported by the Greens senator Rachel Siewert, Liberal senators Eric Abetz and Amanda Stoker, former Labor senator David Smith, who I'm pleased to now have in the House with us, and former United Australia Party senator Brian Burston. A bipartisan parliamentary committee called on the government to fix fundraising within two years. Will they do it? Nope. They're going to miss the deadline. Valentine's Day 2021 will come and go with the government having failed to fix fundraising.

The pandemic and the bushfires have shown what a tragedy this is. The national bushfire crisis caused an outpouring of giving. Sure there were some issues around Celeste Barber's $51 million, but it was a demonstration of the generosity of Australians. But the charities who received it had to go through an unnecessary compliance burden. Now we've seen the pandemic shut down event based fundraising and move to online fundraising. The internet doesn't see state borders, but fundraising law does. Sue Woodward from Not-for-profit Law has been the core advocate behind this reform. She says:

"Ultimately, we have to be able to answer the question of what does a charity do if they put a donate button on their website?" … "If the answer to that question is that they have to look at seven different laws just to work out how to comply… we haven't answered the question and we are holding the sector back at a most crucial time."

The Commonwealth should be leading reform, but instead it is sitting on its hands, unable to act on a key issue to the sector.

They say they believe in one-stop shops, but they fought for years to kill the charities commission. They say they believe in red tape reduction, but they're doing nothing to reduce the single largest regulatory burden that is hurting Australian charities. It comes with a price tag, around $15 million a year—more than a million dollars a month—which means that the Morrison government's intransigence and failure to act for the last two years have cost charities $30 million. Every charity worker, every donor in Australia should be furious at the Morrison government's waste of money at this crucial time. As an anonymous submitter to Not-for-profit Law at Justice Connect, when they looked into the issue, said:

With the advent of social media platforms and news sites, all of which have no state boundaries, our work is seen across borders.

The charity's problem is that they have to hope the donor isn't outside the state, otherwise they have to fill in the paperwork and the reporting for all the different areas. The fact is that the government's failure to act is part of their longer war on the charities sector. They have been at war on the charities sector since they got into office. They have failed to act on this crucial issue. They have appointed a charities critic to head the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, which is what you do when you fail in your attempts to get legislation through parliament to shut it down. The government should apologise to Australian charities, to the people they support and to the generous Australians who support them and whose money is being wasted by the government's failure to act on this crucial issue.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Celia Hammond (Curtin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There's a lot that I agree with in this motion raised by the member; there's a lot that I don't agree with. The part that I do agree with is that I completely endorse the sentiments behind it. That is that charitable organisations play an extremely vital part in our community. Socially, they provide support to people in need and food packages to those without, as well as mental health support and lifesaving at beaches. The list of what volunteers do is incredibly long. Socially, volunteer organisations also provide an opportunity for people to volunteer. This encourages and strengthens the social fabric of society. It's often forgotten, but, when one person helps another, it's not just the recipient who benefits; the recipient, the giver and the wider society benefit from an act of volunteerism. Economically, there are more than 57,000 charities employing more than 1.3 million Australians which are registered with the ACNC. I agree with the member as well that what our charities have done over the course of this year has been nothing short of phenomenal. From the fires through to COVID, they have been there helping people in need.

In recognition of the vital role that they play and to provide support for this, the government has done a number of things this year. Charities have been able to access a JobKeeper test, which is more generous than that offered to any other sector, with a 15 per cent turnover decline test and the option to exclude government revenue from their calculations. Charities have also been able to access the Boosting Cash Flow For Employers program and a $200 million Community Support Package was announced by the government to support the assistance programs delivered by charities during COVID-19, including emergency and food relief and financial literacy services. Charities will also be the beneficiaries of incentives to encourage increased philanthropic giving in response to COVID-19, primarily through planned amendment to ministerial guidelines for public and private ancillary funds.

I also agree with the member that having seven different fundraising regimes is an administrative and bureaucratic nightmare for any charity which operates across more than one area in Australia. It absolutely wastes time and it absolutely wastes money. The member seems to suggest this is of relevant recent origin, whereas the fact is that the complexity of crossjurisdictional regimes that govern charitable fundraising has been a challenge for governments for the better part of 20 years. These regimes involve different definitions of what a charity is, different processes for getting approval to undertake fundraising activities, differences in how to account for funds raised, differences in reporting generally, and there are a multitude of oversight bodies. The Senate report referred to by the member in 2019 outlined a number of these. The Senate report did a very good job. A review of the ACNC in 2018 also identified a number of these issues. But the suggestion that an apology is needed because the government has not yet changed it is a stretch. For a start, it's not yet two years, but, also, it ignores the fact that you can only harmonise in a federation if you have willing and able players, and, with seven different players, you can well understand that this will be challenging. Even if they are willing and able, there are things that need to be negotiated.

What has been done is this. The government has formally responded to the ACNC review and to the Senate paper. The government has committed to enacting 21 of the 30 recommendations of the ACNC review, which focuses on three key themes: reducing red tape, increasing transparency and having an effective regulator. The key goal here is a balancing act: ensuring that the regulatory burden faced by charities is as low as possible whilst simultaneously ensuring that the level of accountability is such that all Australians can continue to have trust in the sector, which they so generously support.

On 31 August, the New South Wales government, in conjunction with other states and the ACT, released a public consultation discussion paper outlining a proposed cross-border recognition model for charitable fundraising. The release of this discussion paper is a significant step towards reducing the unnecessary red tape burden our charities face, and this government is strongly supporting this initiative.

So I do agree with the member's motion on the importance of charities. I do think that this needs to be tidied up. But, unlike him, I actually support this being done as a partnership between federal and state governments. As a proud Western Australian—

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Curtin. The question is that the motion be agreed to. I call the member for Bean.

David Smith (Bean, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to thank Dr Leigh, the member for Fenner, for bringing forward this motion and, more broadly, for his excellent work on the not-for-profit sector and how we can continue to build better communities. I also thank Senator Catryna Bilyk for her leadership and commitment to sensible, overdue reform in the charities sector.

In this time of COVID, many throughout the nation were and are in need of support; but so, too, are those who typically provide that support. Throughout this year, the challenges of 2020 have placed a far greater strain on our charities. According to JBWere, donations are expected to fall by seven per cent in 2020 and a further 12 per cent in 2021. At the same time, charities are experiencing a massive increase in demand for their services: 50 per cent in the case of Foodbank, and almost 80 per cent for Cystic Fibrosis Australia.

This added pressure led a number of organisations to form the Charities Crisis Cabinet. The crisis cabinet told the government in their pre-budget submission that the time for action on reforming charity fundraising regulation was more than 25 years ago.

In a recent past life, I served in the Australian Senate, and I was a member of the Select Committee on Charity Fundraising in the 21st Century. That committee's report was handed down in February 2019, and it picked up and reinforced recommendations from Treasury's five-year review of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, delivered on 31 May 2018. As was unanimously agreed by the Senate select committee, an effective way we can help our charities is to cut loose the arm that has for so long been tied behind their back. If we want to build back better, then we must ensure that the trusted, hardworking charities that hold tight the strands of our Australian social fabric are able to work better, more effectively and without overly cumbersome regulation, including needless duplication of regulatory regimes across state and territory borders.

Those that need these changes are charities both within my electorate of Bean and across Australia. At the beginning of the year, particularly in the ACT and Bean, we saw the unwavering resolve of our volunteer firefighters and SES as they fought some of the worst bushfires in our nation's history. Throughout those same bushfires, Lifeline saw a 10 to 15 per cent increase in its calls over the summer. Yet this was not the end. Far from the onset of the pandemic, calls to Lifeline have increased by 20 to 30 per cent on last year's numbers. Throughout it all, Lifeline have worked incredibly hard to maintain their critical service. During this time of COVID, Vinnies and many more have continued to work to ensure that those who are struggling and most vulnerable are able to hold their heads high and get the support they need. The community of Bean and communities further afield are strengthened by these hardworking charities. It's time that we, in turn, strengthened them through these non-controversial reforms.

The Senate report simply called on the Australian government to urgently provide a public response to the recommendations made in the ACNC review and called on the Australian government to commit to working with state and territory governments and the not-for-profit sector to develop a consistent national model for regulating not-for-profit and charitable fundraising activities within a time limit of two years. This inquiry took multiple submission and held hearings right across the country. These included Heart Support Australia who, working nationwide, explained their frustrations with inconsistencies regarding raffle fundraising and declarations, with one state allowing it to run a raffle up to a certain amount of money and another requiring it to declare every raffle. Volunteering Australia strongly welcomed changes to the sector, hoping for a cohesive and consistent regulation system, as did a plethora of peak bodies and charities throughout the sector.

An issue that consistently echoed throughout was the problem of online donations, as my colleague the member for Fenner has outlined. Whilst charities are the most trusted sector of the Australian economy, excessive costs on administration work to undermine that trust and work to make scarce resources scarcer. Two years on from these reviews, there is little to show. The government's inaction is not only costing charities, including their workforces and those they support; it frustrates those who support them. The advent of federation came about, in part, as a solution to the problematic inconsistencies and contradictions between states. One would have thought that 120 years of practice would allow us to understand and deal with an issue such as this. It's time that the minister responsible took some action and made the agreed changes for those in the charity and volunteering sector.

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak to this motion and I commend the member for Fenner for highlighting the charities sector, which is often on the front line for the vulnerable in our communities. Charities are very close to my heart as I've had the privilege to contribute in one way or another ever since my childhood. I've also had the honour of establishing a charity called Zoe Support Australia, which assists young mothers in my home town of Mildura to access and complete education and gain employment. I know how challenging the process of setting up a charity is. Transitioning from a good idea, even when it's based on research, to pragmatic outcomes can be confounded by red tape and legalities. Obviously, risk must be managed. Problematically, there is a truism that you cannot legislate goodwill; however, the legislative and policy framework has now evolved to a point where charity work is fundamentally strangled by red tape.

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, ACNC, was set up to simplify and clarify regulatory requirements, with a good dose of transparency thrown in. Fundraising is one area where the ACNC has the regulatory apparatus to hold charities to account, but the doubling up of this process at the state and territory level is unnecessarily bureaucratic. I welcome the leadership of New South Wales on harmonisation of the cross-jurisdictional governing of this sector. COVID-19 has provided an opportunity to consider many bureaucratic processes in a new way, leading to some excellent reform. The expansion of telehealth medical services is one such example. There's been some evidence over the last eight months of the need for cross-border jurisdictional reform. Imagine if the states had taken a national approach to hotspot definition and management, for example. In the same way, we need reform of charity fundraising to reduce red tape and cost.

One local charity in my home town of Mildura is Sunraysia Residential Services, led by the entrepreneurial CEO, Marian Luehman. She has taken fundraising to a whole new level. SRS provides residential and wraparound support for clients who live with a disability. Every dollar donated to SRS goes back 100 per cent into the community and stays in Sunraysia. SRS does not take out administrative charges and ensures that all fundraising and donations provide direct benefit to people with disabilities and their families. SRS has been in operation for 43 years, providing support for Sunraysia's ageing and disability population. SRS is 100 per cent locally owned and operated, with no subsidiaries throughout the state or nationally. SRS has built many independent living units, which have provided leverage to build more. It has commercial enterprises, such as the Benetook chook farm, and yesterday I attended the opening of their new Benetook general store. It was great to talk with local market holders and small businesses who have unfortunately had to close their businesses due to COVID restrictions and so have brought their product to the Benetook general store.

The wonderful aspect of this fundraising project is that clients can also participate meaningfully, showing their own artwork. SRS clients sell it on site, just as they are involved in the chook farm business, collecting eggs and learning marketing skills. Such innovation is not common in all charities. Indeed, the reality is that many agencies are generally working flat out just to provide services to their clients. Ideally fund-raising is holistically beneficial to meet its anticipated outcomes to make money as well serve clients. One thing is for sure: it should not be mired by red tape. This government is working to ensure this changes.

Another charity I providentially I bumped into yesterday was the Sunraysia Men's Shed group. They were flipping sausages in front of the local supermarket to raise funds for their activities. They told me they were being contacted by two to three new men each week inquiring to join the men's shed since COVID. Men's sheds achieve critical objectives, two of which are to give men the opportunity to connect with each other and to give back to local communities.

Another reason I'm inspired to meet with charities is because of their voluntary staff. They are often people who bring a wealth of skills and experience who choose to invest back into their local community. As International Volunteer Day is this week, I want to add my thanks to each and every person who so generously supports our charities.

Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Charities and not-for-profit organisations are made up of people who want to give something back to their community. They are often people who have experienced a difficulty or trauma in their life. They know how that affects other people and they want to do all they can to reduce the same experiences for others or to mitigate the impacts. They are often made up of people who are really conscious that they've had a terrific or privileged life and they know that not everyone else has that same life. They want to do what they can to give back to the community to help others have a terrific life.

By definition almost everyone who sets up a charity or a not-for-profit organisation at the start is a volunteer. It must be the case that every member of this chamber has the same experience I've had, even in the short 18 months of being the member for Dunkley, that people who are setting up charities and not-for-profit organisations struggle with the paper work and the requirements to reach charitable status; to get tax deductibility so that that wealthy people can donate and get their tax deduction; to follow all of the rules and regulations that are properly in place to make sure that charities and not-for-profits have good standards of governance and use donated money well. But often they are people who don't know how to understand what the rules are, let alone how to apply them.

In this year, in 2020, more than any other year, we have relied on those people in charities and not-for-profits to pick up the pieces in broken communities and broken families and to plug the holes that exist in government provision of services. We always do that, but we've seen more than ever in this year, in my state of Victoria, where physical connection and communication has been something that we haven't been able to do for months on end—the importance of local community groups to check in just to make sure people are okay, to facilitate connection when there isn't any, and to try to keep going, to try to keep looking after the people that they care for when they're also looking after themselves.

What we've tried to do in Dunkley is to bring those sorts of groups, the charities and not-for-profits, together online in what we called, imaginatively, the Dunkley charity and not-for-profit Zoom forums, to have connection between the people. Most are volunteers. Some are in organisations lucky enough to have funding, which means they can have paid workers, but most are volunteers. I can't name all of the groups that have been part of the three forums that we've had, but they include, for example, Quill Moves, which is literally two amazing women who donate their time to help disabled children and sometimes their parents to express themselves through writing and to record their experiences; the Bendigo Bank, which is well known for handing out grants to charitable organisations; the Belvedere Community Centre, which hasn't been able to be open all year but nonetheless has made and handed out 250 facemasks and is looking for more people to take more face masks for what they've done; the Fit to Drive Foundation, teaching young people to drive safely; the Frankston Peninsula Multiple Births Association, which is an amazing group of men and women who help families with twins and triplets to get together; and HALT, which is all about men's health. Groups. And there are so many more organisations.

What has been inspiring about these forums is that, yes, all these organisations have said, 'We need more help; there's not enough funding from the federal government. We need ongoing funding to help us with our administration costs and to be able to pay people to do work,' but they've moved beyond that and said, 'How can we help each other?' HALT has worked with the Frankston Peninsula Multiple Births Association and Mums Supporting Families in Need for mental health for men. Frankston Basketball has reached out and held forums for mental health for young players. Project C and Project O have worked together for artistic projects to help young people in need. We need a federal government that will do more to help these organisations get rid of the red tape. (Time expired)

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Dunkley for her contribution. I agree with one of her comments—that many people get to a stage in life where they've had a rewarding, privileged life and they decide to give back and do charity work, which is very commendable. But I have found through my experience in life that there is another type of person who also does that, and they are the people not far from actually using the services of the charities. They are people who haven't had privileged lives. They are people who have had difficult lives. So it is across the board. Charities hold a special place in all Australians' hearts, and we should recognise that—and we do recognise that as a government. In fact, as I speak, my mother, Stella Conaghan, is at Vinnies in Kempsey doing her duty, because she's had a good life. As a generous people and a generous nation, we need to stand up to assist charities as best we can.

I'd like to acknowledge two very important charities in my electorate. The first is the Savings Place Food Bank in Port Macquarie and Kempsey. The Port Macquarie one was opened on 3 November by local man Dave Davis and Shalom House of Hope chairman Bob Eldridge. Dave worked for many years in the supermarket and food wholesale industry and, over the past decades, he's also contributed to the local communities, using his connections and contacts for charity, for good. By using his own funds, this year he set up a food bank warehouse in Port Macquarie and a central repository for rescue food. Dave gets fresh and frozen food and non-perishable or ambient products from supermarkets at their best-by date, and he says, 'If I won't eat it, I won't provide it. I won't sell it'. He then passes these products on to 10 food hubs throughout the Mid North Coast to provide to people in need.

Dave's rescue food goes to the Food Hub in Kempsey, several churches throughout the region, neighbourhood centres and soup kitchens. One remarkable fact: in the Macleay Valley alone last year, he provided over 100,000 breakfasts and lunches to schoolkids who were unable to provide their own food. I take my hat off to Dave and thank him for his extremely hard work. I hope in the future that the federal government, through advocacy from me, will be able to assist the food hub in the future. Dave estimates that since last November his operations have provided over half a million dollars worth of food or produce to community members in need.

The second great charity in my electorate is Loaves and Fishes. Loaves and Fishes has partnered with more than 20 businesses to provide locals experiencing hardship with rescue food and other staples. Loaves and Fishes was founded 50 years ago on the principle of giving people a hand up, not a handout. Loaves & Fishes Foodstore supports about 4,700 families throughout the Coffs coast by providing them with groceries at around one-third the cost of supermarket prices. It also provides emergency food parcels for residents and individuals on the Coffs coast who are in crisis. In addition to the food store, Loaves and Fishes provides an op shop, a furniture and white goods outlet, a community shed, a fishing club, a soup kitchen, and emergency accommodation.

Turning to the point of the member for Fenner's motion: our government is working to harmonise legislation around charities and to reduce red tape. Reducing red tape and provide providing a seamless, fluid administrative process is the secret. It provides certainty for those charities. It gives them an understanding of what they can and can't do, and, in turn, that provides a better process for those in need in our communities. Our government will continue to work with those charities and continue to provide funding for this important agenda.

Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Fenner for raising the important issue of reform to the charity sector. Charities have an annual revenue of $155 billion, which accounts for over eight per cent of Australia's GDP. It is incredibly substantial. One in 10 employees in Australia work in this sector—that is over 1.3 million people. They also engage with over three million volunteers, providing over $12.7 billion of unpaid labour. Australia owes them a huge debt of thanks. More than their economic value, though, charities deliver vital services on behalf of the Commonwealth and state governments—from homelessness to disability, education and sport charities and not-for-profits. They are vital for the Australian community. As the motion explains, charities are the most trusted sector in Australian public life, yet the standard of compliance is more arduous and complex than for almost any other sector of the economy.

Treasury's five-year review of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commissionidentified fundraising law as a major burden on charities and recommended harmonising it across the country. Similarly, the Senate Select Committee on Charity Fundraising in the 21st Century called on parliament to harmonise fundraising laws late last year. The reporting requirements imposed on charities by government are far more stringent than those applied to corporate engagements, and compliance for fundraising activities is complicated by the seven different state and territory regimes imposed across the country. For example, in South Australia being a registered charity with the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission is sufficient to give you the right to fundraise, but that's not the case in other jurisdictions. In New South Wales and most other states and territories you have to apply separately to the relevant state authority to fundraise, and then that application comes with a whole set of additional compliance obligations. For example, in New South Wales a director of a registered, non-religious charity cannot be paid unless an exemption is granted. The lack of consistency in fundraising obligations has been complicated further by the advent of digital fundraising platforms. There are just so many anomalies and red tape that need to be streamlined. Charities need to deal with so many things to conduct their everyday operations, and this takes away from their service delivery. We should, absolutely, make it possible for their focus to be on that service delivery. I urge the government to use the national cabinet to reform fundraising laws and to harmonise them across the country.

We can't talk about charities without talking about what a difficult year 2020 has been. The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed its own set of restrictions on charity fundraising. Restrictions on public gatherings, deceased foot traffic in central locations, and the economic downturn have all compounded to restrict the fundraising ability of the charity sector this year, at a time where, in fact, their services and assistance have been needed all the more. Modelling by the University of New South Wales Centre for Social Impact and Social Ventures showed that a drop in revenue by just 20 per cent for the charities sector would leave 88 per cent of charities immediately operating at a loss and 17 per cent would close their doors. That would result in 200,000 jobs lost.

Financial viability of charities is important, as they have less access to raising funds by debt as corporations and they absolutely need all the assistance they can get to comply with very strict and serious compliance regulations. While JobKeeper, for example, was welcomed, many struggled to meet the eligibility criteria of a 15 per cent loss in revenue against previous years, as charities have been growing. Many are start-ups, and hence their growth rate is rapid. While they were not down 15 per cent on last year, they were 80 per cent down against their projections, and demand for their services was much higher. In June I urged the government to bring forward Stronger Communities grants to help the charities sector, which is doing such wonderful and necessary work. I call on them again to do that.

I'd like to use this opportunity to thank the many hardworking charities in the community of Warringah. We have a wide variety of charities and community organisations that do wonderful work here and abroad, from Doctors International, who work overseas, to Community Northern Beaches, who deliver a fantastic range of services to locals. Men's sheds are spread throughout the electorate, providing practical solutions to men's health issues, and the Royal Far West has been educating and caring for the health of children from regional areas at Manly Beach since 1924. There are so many amazing mental health and sporting and disability charities across the electorate. There are far too many to name, but I thank you.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.