George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Siewert, the government strongly supports the Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. It is a very important part of the architecture of the regulation of various entities in this country. We have regulation of companies, we have regulation of various other financial entities and we have regulation of charities—and so we should. Senator Siewert, your entire proposition that the government is somehow seeking to undermine charities rests on the assertion that we are introducing legislation that would restrict charities through Senator Cormann's bill, which we have foreshadowed. In fact, what we are doing through Senator Cormann's bill is restricting the reception by Australian charities of foreign political donations. We are not touching, we are not going anywhere near restricting, the receipt of moneys for charitable purposes.