The Senate Community Affairs Legislation Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Bill 2012, Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Consequential and Transitional) Bill 2012 and the Tax Laws Amendment (Special Conditions for Not-for-profit Concessions) Bill 2012.
The Committee has now released the transcript of its public hearing held on 4 September 2012. Issues raised included:
- that the legislation should be written in such a way that it is easy to understand for the bulk of not-for-profit leaders who are not sophisticated in dealing with legislation;
- concerns about protection of directors of NFPs and charities eg that the private property of directors would be protected, except in exceptional circumstances;
- the one-stop-shop nature of the ACNC was welcomed;
- some uncertainty around the proposed governance standards and thresholds for the size of organisations.
The Committee is due to report on 12 September 2012.
[LTN 173, 6/9]