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On Friday July 6, 2012 the Assistant Treasurer the Hon. David Bradbury MP and the Minister for Social Inclusion the Hon. Mark Butler MP released the second exposure draft of the legislation to establish the first independent regulator for the charity and not-for-profit sector in Australia, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). With the legislation referred to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics for inquiry, over 65 submissions received and two days of public hearings now complete, CCA’s CEO David Crosbie comments on the journey so far…

It has been a long time coming – the independent regulator for the NFP sector is almost here – but it has been a rather potholed journey.

The Community Council for Australia (CCA) today welcomed the release of draft legislation to establish the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission as a ‘long overdue reform for Australian not-for-profit organisations.’   

The Community Council for Australia (CCA) welcomes the Senate Economics Committee report: ‘Investing in good: the development of a capital market for the not-for-profit sector in Australia’ tabled in the Parliament today.

CCA CEO David Crosbie says Australia needs to create an option for not-for-profits to invest in themselves to become stronger as organisations. We’d like to see us follow the lead from the United Kingdom. What they have done is identify monies which are lying dormant in bank accounts, superannuation funds and insurance funds for more than 20 years and they are using that to underwrite establishment of what they are calling a ‘Big Society Bank’, which is really a not-for-profit bank.

It may be a century or three too late for many community organisations who have not been able to be classified as charities, but the Gillard government is finally doing what no Australia government has been prepared to do – define what it is to be a 21st century charitable organisation in Australia.