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The Australia we want, Third Report

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What kind of Australia do we want to live in and what is our role in achieving it?

The Australia we want, Third Report

The Community Council for Australia is committed to achieving a better Australia through strengthening the role and effectiveness of charities and not-for-profit organisations.

Most debates about Australia’s future have been limited by a seemingly exclusive fixation on the type of economy to be achieved. As Rev Tim Costello highlights in his Overview, Australians are more than individual tax paying economic units. Our productivity, innovation, skills and achievements are grounded in flourishing communities within our schools, workplaces, families and local neighbourhoods.

In 2015, a group of 60 leaders from across the charities and not-for-profit sector were asked to consider and discuss ways in which they might describe the Australia we want. Through this process a listing of key values was identified.

The Australia we want is just, fair, safe, inclusive, equal of opportunity, united, authentic, creative, confident, courageous, kind, generous and compassionate. The leaders then developed measures that would show whether the values they had prioritised were being achieved.

This third report presents the latest comprehensive review of Australia’s performance against these agreed values- based measures. It is an ongoing journey to a stronger and more resilient Australia, a journey we need to imagine, plan for, enact and monitor. It is about owning our future and creating the Australia we want.

CCA acknowledges the generous support of the AMP Foundation in making this report possible.

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Media Release – New research – Charities matter to communities and voters

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Media Release - New Report - Charities matter to communities and to voters

Community Perceptions Survey Charities 2025A major new report from the Community Council for Australia (CCA), working with Piazza Research, has been released in the run up to the Federal Election.

A sample of over 4,600 representative voters were polled about a range of issues.  The survey has revealed there is deep concern about what is happening to charities on a national and local level. 

CCA CEO David Crosbie says the trend is for Australia to become a more inward looking, selfish country (less people giving and volunteering) and that charities need and deserve much more support from governments, funders and the community. 

The new survey released today – The Community Perception Survey (Charities) – reveals there is widespread support for local MPs to achieve key charity sector goals. David Crosbie said:

  • 92% of people said it is now time charities had the staff, volunteers and capacity to offer better services to the community.
  • 92% of people said it is vital to make it much easier for people to actually give to charities and said major reforms are needed to do this.
  • 91% want experienced and knowledgeable charities to be in the Government’s planning or policy priorities.
  • 91% of those surveyed said they wanted to see productivity and support boosted.
  • 86% of the people in the survey say the new Federal Government should appoint a Minister to look after charities.

David Crosbie said, “It’s very clear that in marginal electorates, voter support for election candidates is partly about their engagement with charities and support for positive charity policies.”

“The bottom line is the vast majority of our charities are underfunded and cost of living issues are impacting on local charities and community groups in a huge way.  Charities also face massive amounts of red tape.”

“Without doubt, it’s got harder and harder for local charities.  Across the sector income has risen by just 8% but staffing costs alone have gone up by at least 11%.  Charities are facing bigger and bigger costs to do their business and unlike small business there is no support for cybersecurity, staff skills development, energy transition, research and development, data use and privacy, capital investment in infrastructure and capacity, or climate change adaptation.”

“Although charities employ over 10% of Australia’s workforce, engage over 3.5 million volunteers, and turn over more than $200 billion (8% of Australia’s GDP), there is no government department to promote charity productivity, no charity ombudsman, not one Federal official outside of the charities regulator whose job is to monitor and promote the sector.”

“Charities matter to our communities, to our economy, to our productivity and wellbeing, but our issues are not taken seriously, and that needs to change.”

“For most marginal electorates that were surveyed, up to 66% of electors are much more likely to vote for a candidate who can improve government policy for charities.  It is important to note, 51% of undecided voters say this issue would influence the way they vote.”

David Crosbie added, “It is very clear from the survey that voters expect to see a stronger collaboration between Government and charities.  The vast majority of electors (between 87% to 99%) believe it is vital that their MP encourages the Australian Government to work much more closely with charities.”

“On top of this, 65% to 80% of people in the survey want their MP to meet with charity sector representatives.  Obviously, voters believe we can do so much better.”

“These compelling findings clearly demonstrate that in Australia’s marginal electorates, charity policy and the involvement of MPs are absolutely significant factors influencing voters’ decisions.  It is clear too that candidates who are very proactive in supporting the charity sector will improve their standing amongst voters – especially swing voters.”

David Crosbie added, “Unfortunately one of the very real problems in the charity sector is organisations tend to advocate for their cause and their purpose (the communities they serve) rather than advocating for themselves or their sector.”

The Community Council for Australia (CCA) is an independent non-political member-based organisation supporting charities and the not-for-profit sector in Australia.

Read the full report:  Community Perceptions Survey (Charities) March 2025, Piazza Research

Infographic of findings from survey

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Survey – Help reform Australia’s outdated Fundraising Regulation

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Survey - Help reform Australia's outdated Fundraising Regulation

Fundraising reform and relief is one of the first issues that was raised with the Charities Crisis Cabinet (CCC) as Australian charities responded to COVID-19 and bushfire recovery.

Charities told us Australia’s out of date and not fit for purpose system of fundraising regulation stymied and hindered them when they needed to be nimble, and when they most needed support.  Crisis is not a time to work through seven different sets of rules and regulations in order to place a ‘donate here’ button on a website.

Both the Australian Treasurer and the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements engaged with this issue and have sought to advance the harmonisation of fundraising regulation to establish a single national regulatory scheme.  The CCC commends the Treasurer for elevating this issue into his discussions with state and territory colleagues.

Progress against the Royal Commission’s recommendations is being tracked here, including Recommendation 21.2 – Reform fundraising laws: Australian, state and territory governments should create a single national scheme for the regulation for charitable fundraising.

The CCC and the Fixfundraising coalition will continue to push for the full implementation of the Royal Commission’s recommendation.
 
To do this we commissioned independent research to understand the speed and complexity of registration and compliance regimes that charities and NFPs are required to comply with when they seek to fundraise to support their work and their communities.  Our thanks to all charities and NFPs that participated in the research.
 
The results were released on 27 May 2021 and are available here: Fundraising-Survey-Report-Final- 052021.pdf
 

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Impact Investing – Making it happen

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Impact Investing - Making it happen

Impact investing is growing in Australia and around the world. For some charities, impact investing offers new ways of achieving their purpose with a different form of investment. There is a lot of money available for impact investing, but very few charities have investment ready proposals.  

In 2018, CCA and Life Without Barriers ran a series of CEO forums to look at what can be done to bridge the gap between investor interest and investment readiness.  We brought together expert impact investing intermediaries with leaders from across the charities sector in a frank sharing of experience, wisdom and learning.

Impact Investing – Making it happen shares the learning and recommendations from the forums.  It provides 12 recommendations for not-for-profit organisations and identifies seven areas where government should act to support capacity development and growth in the impact invesment ecosystem.

We hope charity leaders and Boards find it a useful resource as they turn their mind to the potential of impact investing, and we hope that governments act to realise the promise and the potential of a robust and vibrant impact investing ecosystem.

Our thanks to the charity and not for profit leaders who participated in the forums, and our partners and expert panelists: Life Without Barriers, Social Ventures Australia, Social Outcomes, Koda Capital, NAB and PwC Australia

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Media Release: Is this the Australia we want?

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Is this the Australia we want? Media Release, 7 May 2019

A new national report has revealed that in many fundamental areas of life, Australia is heading in the wrong direction. 

Australia we want - Second Report

According to David Crosbie (CEO of CCA); ‘We need to look beyond economic indicators and start focusing on the values that make Australia a great place to live.  We are all much more than passengers in an economy.  We are part of families, workplaces and communities.  Within our communities we want to live lives that are worthwhile and enact values we believe in.  This report highlights how far Australia is slipping in achieving some very important values.  It should be a wakeup call for all of us.’

The Australia We Want is the first ever benchmark of how Australia and each State and Territory is performing against values and goals prioritised by leaders from across the charities sector.  These values include; just, fair, safe, inclusive, equality of opportunity, united, authentic, creative, confident, courageous, optimistic, generous, kind, and compassionate.  Drawing on key statistics from the OECD, ABS and the AIHW, to evaluate these values, this second report reveals that:

  • Australian incarceration rates are very high – twice most countries in Europe and rising (how just are we?)
  • Australian suicide rates are higher than our road toll and increasing (how inclusive are we?)
  • Australia is slipping down both the international corruption scale and the scale of international generosity (how authentic and compassionate are we?)
  • We continue to increase our CO2 emissions (how sustainable are we?)
  • The gap between how safe women and men feel walking alone at night is one of the highest in the world (how safe are we?).  
  • NSW and NT are the worst performing and Tasmania is the best performing jurisdiction when it comes to achieving communities where the prioritised values are being achieved.  The ACT has slipped down the rankings and WA has improved since the 2016 report.

The positive news is; volunteering has increased, and Australia isabove average compared to other OECD countries in equality of access to employment, education levels, business and consumer confidence.  Housing affordability and income distribution need improvement.

David Crosbie (CEO of CCA) said: ‘The findings of this report are damning – they tell us that if we are going to live in the kind of Australia we want for ourselves and our children, we need to work at changing some of these fundamental issues.’  

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#AusWeWant Solutions Forum – Education – Equal Opportunity

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#AusWeWant Solutions Forum - Education - Equal Opportunity

Building the Australia we want starts with education

CCA, with the support of partners Origin Foundation and PwC Australia brought together 30 leaders in the first Australia We Want Solutions Forum in Melbourne on 2 August, 2017. This exceptional gathering of change-makers and thought-leaders focused on the #AusWeWant measure of educational attainment, an indicator for the #AusWeWant value of equal opportunity (and of course with relevance across other values).

The Solutions Forum begins our work in developing a policy and advocacy platform to create the Australia We Want. We have started an important conversation. A report will follow.  We look forward to sharing news and resources and together, creating the momentum for change.

Key News and Resources:

A word from our partner

Sean Barrett, Head of Origin Foundation

Last year, the Community Council of Australia launched the ‘Australia We Want’ campaign.  It moved the debate on from economic rationalism to paint a picture of a compassionate, fair, inclusive, generous and innovative Australia.  The campaign touched a nerve and provoked widespread media coverage and public discussion.

In the next phase of the campaign, the CCA is taking on the challenge of translating the vision into tangible actions to make Australia a better place.

It is starting by looking at the catalytic role of education in achieving the ‘Australia We Want’.

Values

The work of the Productivity Commission in its report Deep and Persistent Disadvantage in Australia (July 2013) makes clear the pivotal role of Education:

‘Education is a foundation capability. It improves a person’s employment prospects and earning capacity, and the evidence points to a relationship between education and better health and raised civic and social engagement.’

‘Civic and social engagement’ summarises many of the values enshrined in the Australia We Want.

The Productivity Commission report cited the critical areas of educational underachievement as being among children in low SES communities, those living in regional and rural areas, and the Indigenous.

Measurement

A measure of education suggested in Social Inclusion in Australia.  How Australia is Faring (Commonwealth of Australia 2010) is:

‘Participating in schooling and completing a Year 12 or Certificate II assists people to find employment, participate in community activities and improve their wellbeing.  Therefore, it is an important indicator of social inclusion.’

Urgency

There is no time to lose. 

The future of work is changing rapidly.  Gone are the days of education and training for a single career and retirement at 65.  It is possible that some of today’s school children will live to be 100 and their working lives will span more than 65 years.  They will have six or more different careers.  More than 60% of today’s schoolchildren will eventually be employed in jobs that have yet to be created.  In these scenarios it is widely accepted that people will need at least 14 years of education.  Only the educated and adaptable will be able to survive in this jobs market.

Educational under performance among Indigenous children is notorious and now a demographic time bomb is emerging.  ABS projections shows that soon 33% of the Indigenous population will be below the age of 14 years.  This compares with 18% in the non-Indigenous population. If another generation is lost to low educational outcomes it will create problems in the welfare, health and justice systems later on.

Second class citizens are being created in rural and regional Australia.  Educational attainment decreases the further you go from metropolitan centres.  The children outside the city are not getting the same educational and life opportunities as their fellow urban Australians.

We have entered a period where facts, and science can be ignored and replaced by the outlandish.

In such circumstances we must rethink education to help address the things that ail our society.

Call to Action

The discourse around education is largely negative.  It is recognised among social marketers that achieving change requires raising awareness of the problems – the negatives – but this must then be followed by presentation of the solutions.  Continued focus on the negatives leads people to ‘turn off’; to regard the problem as intractable.

The CCA is now challenging you, the leaders in education policy development, and delivery to move beyond the current negative discourse on what is wrong with the education system to build on the successes. What can we learn from the initiatives and programs that are re-engaging children in learning and helping them to fulfil their potential?  What are the two or three critical levers that will create an education agenda which will deliver educational advantage to all, and thereby lay the foundations for achieving the Australia We Want.

Conversely, if educational attainment is not improved the goals of the Australia We Want will not be achievable and disadvantage will worsen.  As Prof Tony Vinson explained in his landmark research Dropping Off the Edge: ‘Profiling of Australia’s most disadvantaged communities using social, health and economic indicators highlights the central importance of limited schooling in triggering and sustaining concentrated local disadvantage’.

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The Australia We Want, First Report. October 2016

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The Australia We Want, First Report

The Australia We Want, First Report provides the first ever benchmark of how Australia, and each State and Territory, is performing against values prioritised by leaders in the charities and not-for-proft sector.  Released on 27 October at the National Press Club, with CCA Chair, Rev Tim Costello asking us all to accept the challenge to Achieve the Australia We Want.

A MESSAGE FROM CCA CHAIR, REV TIM COSTELLO

Is the Australia of today and the future we are creating, the Australia we want?

The Australia We Want, First Report asks us all to answer this question, and to act on the answers we draw from its data and findings. 

The Community Council for Australia and charity leaders from across the sector began this work at a roundtable in 2015. We were determined that debates about Australia’s future move beyond a discussion of the type of economy to be achieved, and to talk fundamentally about the society we want to live in. Australians are more than individual tax paying economic units.  Our productivity, innovation, skills and achievements are actually grounded in flourishing communities within our schools, workplaces, families and local neighbourhoods.

The Australia We Want is the first ever benchmark of how Australia and each State and Territory is performing against values and goals prioritised by leaders from across the charities sector.  These values include: just, fair, safe, inclusive, equality of opportunity, united, authentic, creative, confident, courageous, optimistic, generous, kind, and compassionate.  Drawing on key statistics from the OECD, ABS and the AIHW, to evaluate these values, the report reveals that:

  • Australian incarceration rates are high – 3 times that of Ireland and rising (how just are we?)
  • Australian suicide rates are higher than our road toll and increasing (how inclusive are we?)
  • Inequality in income distribution is higher than most other OECD countries – and growing (how fair are we?) 
  • Australians volunteer less and give less as a percentage of income than five years ago (how kind and generous are we?)
  • Australia is slipping down both the international corruption scale and the scale of international generosity (how authentic and compassionate are we?) 

The values and indicators outlined in this report provide a framework for exploring, debating and evaluating the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats inherent in the way all of us act – charities, businesses, governments, communities. 

I hope that you will join me in a movement for change, and use this information in your work and your sphere of influence to help create a better Australia. We can all do more to achieve the Australia we want. 

Please also stay in touch with CCA’s work.  Our next step is to bring together sector leaders in AusWeWant roundtables later this year and next year.  If you would like to know details as these are scheduled, please contact CEO, David Crosbie and the team at CCA: info@communitycouncil.com.au

Rev Tim Costello

Chair, Community Council for Australia

CCA acknowledges the generous support of Equity Trustees and the Centre for Social Impact in this project.

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Owning Our Future – Mergers and Collaborations

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Owning Our Future - Mergers and Collaborations

In October and December 2015, CCA staged a major campaign to promote more robust discussion of mergers and collaborations. The campaign included a series of national forums and the report is a record of the discussion and feedback.

The focus of the forums was the #GoodSave case study presentation by Jayne Meyer Tucker who outlined the ideas and practicalities that drove the merger of Good Beginnings Australia and Save the Children Australia.

Views of the attendees varied but the general mood could be summed up in the words of one … “Merger may be a dirty word for many, but that should not stop consideration of possible consortia, partnerships, and collectives, all versions of collaboration that need to be higher on our agendas”.

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Owning Our Future: Better Using Our Assets Report

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Owning Our Future: Better Using Our Assets Report - 7 April 2015

For over a decade the not-for-profit sector has experienced a wave of growth that outstrips any other Australian industry. Turnover has risen by 40 per cent in the last six years to above $107 billion per annum.  Assets now top $175 billion and the sector employs over one million Australians with a further five million involved as volunteers.  

‘Growth is beginning to slow,’ says CCA CEO David Crosbie. ‘Government funding and philanthropy are stalling, and there is a thick fog of uncertainty largely due to federal policy and funding indecision.’ 

Uncertainty was the key issue raised in both the annual ProBono Australia’s survey of the not-for-profit sector and the PwC-CSI Community Index with many in not-for-profits concerned about the future of their organisation over the coming 12 months. 

There is a shift towards taking control of the sector’s future by better leveraging its $175 billion assets. CCA, PwC, Community Sector Banking, Equity Trustees, Social Ventures Australia and Origin Foundation together rolled out the first round of forums to discuss this matter in the CCA Owning Our Future Series. Over 100 sector leaders joined experts to work through barriers and opportunities to unlock the potential of sector assets, both at organisational and broader policy levels.

Crosbie says the report from the Better Using Our Assets series carries 14 recommendations for not-for-profits and five recommendations for government that would better position organisations to achieve their purpose and access new avenues of funding outside of government.

‘Big issues include risk management; strategy focused on organisation purpose and mission today and in five to ten years time; collaboration and mergers; and the need to communicate value and diversify income streams,’ said Crosbie.

‘Government has a key role in providing regulatory certainty and the policy environment to support the growth of social investment. We also need a shift in relationship with governments and bureaucracy. There are great gains to be made by cutting red-tape and working with the sector to streamline processes and achieve contracting arrangements that are performance oriented and work from a partnership base.’

‘It’s a report that we hope will stimulate thinking and discussion within organisations, within the sector and at a national policy level,’ says Crosbie.

The report will be formally released by the Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg at CCA’s AGM and National Roundtable 8 April 2015. To receive a hard copy or to find out more about the CCA Owning Our Future Series, email deborahs@communitycouncil.com.au

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State of the Not for Profit Sector Survey – September 2014

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State of the Not for Profit Sector Survey - September 2014

Providing a Voice, Performance now and over the past year

Pro Bono Australia’s State of the Sector Survey 2014 undertaken in partnership with Community Council for Australia and Netbalance Research Institute seeks to provide a voice for all those with an interest in the Not for Profit sector – especially Pro Bono Australia’s subscribers and other stakeholders that contribute to the performance of the sector.

It is not an academic study, there are other surveys that serve that purpose. However, we have used questions which appeared in the 2013 and 2010 Election Manifesto Surveys and the 1200+ respondents in the 2014 survey are drawn from the same pool of sector stakeholders – sector leaders and senior managers, volunteers, advisors, and clients. The survey engaged respondents from all industries and sizes of Not for Profit organisations.

The survey findings are designed to prompt discussion and offer opinions from the sector. In addition to the many numbers, we focus on what respondents have said – their concerns, their hopes and most importantly their views on how to help the sector thrive.

See CCA’s media release here: http://communitycouncil.com.au/node/187

At the lauch of survey finding: CCA Chair Tim Costello, Pro Bono Australia CEO Karen Mahlab and CCA CEO David Crosbie.

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