States slow to act on fundraising reform
Posted on 27 Feb 2024
By Greg Thom and Matthew Schulz, journalists, Institute of Community Directors Australia
State governments across the nation have been accused of dragging the chain on fundraising reform.
Despite having agreed at a meeting in Canberra a year ago to a reform timetable, most states have missed deadlines to share their plans for implementing national fundraising principles.
The principles, developed by a working group with representatives from all states and territories, are designed to streamline and harmonise state and territory requirements on charitable fundraiser conduct.
In February 2023, each jurisdiction agreed to release an implementation plan by July that year explaining how they would bring the principles to life through regulatory changes or legislation.
A recent analysis by the Coalition for Fundraising Reform revealed only Tasmania, Queensland and South Australia have released their implementation plans.
South Australia has made the most progress, going one step further and implementing the fundraising principles without amendment.
Formed in 2016, the coalition for fundraising reform comprises sector organisations and professional bodies including Justice Connect, the Community Council for Australia and the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) who have campaigned for a nationally consistent fundraising regime.
The coalition said the fundraising principles would be effective only if they were introduced in a harmonised way, which would mean:
- implementing the principles as agreed and announced in February 2023 without amendment
- repealing or ‘switching off’ all local fundraising rules so that a charity, no matter where it raised funds, would only need to comply with the principles
- ensuring any regulatory guidance was uniform across all states and territories
Justice Connect's head of not-for-profit law, Geraldine Menere lamented the lack of urgency from the states in implementing the reforms.
“The lack of action is concerning and casts a shadow over the prospects of successful harmonisation and genuine red tape reduction for charities anytime in the near future,” she said.
“There is the potential for these reforms to save charities hundreds of hours of unnecessary administration, but to realise this benefit, the reforms must be implemented quickly and consistently to ensure the key aims – simplification and harmonisation – are achieved.”
The issue was raised by Opposition charities spokesman Senator Dean Smith in a recent Senate Estimates hearing, in which he grilled officials from the Treasury and Finance departments on the progress toward a universal fundraising framework.
In response to questions from the Community Advocate, none of the state and territory jurisdictions that have yet to release their implementation plans – Victoria, NSW, WA, and the ACT – explained in detail why they were seven months behind schedule in doing so.
The Victorian government was the only jurisdiction in the country that refused to be quoted on the record.
“The lack of action is concerning and casts a shadow over the prospects of successful harmonisation and genuine red tape reduction for charities anytime in the near future.”
Charities Minister Andrew Leigh said he believed it was important to stick to the legislative timetable for implementing the fundraising principles that all states and territories committed to.
“I think it's an important reform and I know it's warmly welcomed by the charity and not-for-profit sector,” he said.
“I know that they understand the value of charitable fundraising, harmonisation, the benefits that that brings to the charities and not for profits and their states and territories.”
Mr Leigh said he had no plans to apply pressure on the states to ramp up their implementation roadmap.
“You've had a number of changes of government, which always makes things more challenging, but the purpose of the reforms is broadly recognised and we're engaging both at the official's level and at a political level to make sure that happens.
“States and territories are aware of where we [federal government] stand and are aware of the importance of them getting this reform done.”