Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution to the debate on the Treasury Laws Amendment (2021 Measures No. 2) Bill 2021. Schedule 1 of this bill introduces changes requiring an institution to be either a registered charity or a government agency in order to be entitled to deductible gift recipient status. While most DGRs are already registered charities, some are not. These are practical changes that will provide for improved regulation, governance and oversight of all DGRs and reduce unnecessary compliance costs. But any sensible reforms are under threat by the government's very real and very present attempt to shut down charities for speaking out. Charities across Australia are calling on the government to abandon the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Amendment (2021 Measures No. 2) Regulations 2021. Under these regulations, charities could be deregistered if they commit or potentially commit summary offences. They could also be deregistered if they fail to maintain internal control procedures documenting that their resources are not being used to promote minor offences. In practical terms, this means charities could be deregistered for lawful activity, like promoting a rally where people are peacefully blocking the entrance to a business; setting up an email group for a local community group which, even without the charity's knowledge, uses it to plan a peaceful protest involving a minor trespass, like a sit-in somewhere; or failing to implement or document policies and procedures that control how staff and volunteers may behave.

Every single day of every single year, charities do incredible work to support people through unprecedented crises in this country. I don't think we would be surviving the COVID pandemic without our charities sector. Charities are seeing people they have never seen before in need of emergency food relief and shelter. People enduring lockdowns across the country are experiencing unprecedented hardship and mental health issues. This isn't the first time the government has attempted to silence charities. In fact, I've been dealing with their various attempts through this place ever since I've been here. They would rather charities just delivered services without addressing the causes of the need for such services in the first place. How would we get through this crisis without our charities? The regulations proposed by the government are in danger of putting this vital work at risk. There is no doubt that they will significantly impact the ability of charities to carry out their work advocating for the most vulnerable in our community. The regulations are a blatant attack on charities and, I would strongly argue, on our democracy, because charities have a vital role in civil society and in our democracy.

Last week the Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation, in tabling Delegated Legislation Monitor No. 12 of 2021, noted that it had 'significant unresolved concerns about the regulations'. It said:

… the committee is concerned about the obligations the instrument imposes on charities to maintain reasonable internal control procedures to prevent the use of their resources to promote another entity's unlawful actions.

The committee said that these obligations will require the ACNC commissioner to make a subjective judgement and exercise broad discretionary powers without any clear guidance or limitations.

There are many outstanding questions that need to be answered: what objective test will be applied to determine whether a charity has complied with these requirements? In what circumstances can the ACNC commissioner seek advice from law enforcement agencies about compliance with the standards? Most importantly, where is the evidence to show that these regulations are needed in the first place? There are already adequate protections in place to prevent charities from engaging in unlawful acts.

The committee is also concerned about the impact of the regulations on the implied freedom of political communication. It said that the regulations may restrict a charity's ability to support or promote certain types of political protest without having committed any unlawful act themselves. The committee has asked the Assistant Treasurer for detailed advice on what objective test will be applied to determine whether a charity has complied with the requirements and how the instrument as a whole does not impermissibly restrict the implied freedom of political action. The regulations have serious and wide-ranging consequences for 59,000 charities across this country.

I would like to commend the committee for its commitment to scrutinising regulations closely. The Standing Committee for the Scrutiny of Delegated Legislation is going to continue to scrutinise these regulations. I urge all in this place to think hard about the devastating impact these changes will have on charities and the most vulnerable members of our communities. We simply cannot afford to abandon our charities at a time when we need them so much.