A critique of the Majority Report of the Senate Economics Legislation Committee review of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (repeal) (no. 1) bill 2014 (provisions)

Abstract

This paper analyses the Majority Report of the Senate Economics Legislation Committee's review of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Repeal) (No. 1) Bill 2014, which in June 2014 recommended passage of the bill by the Australian Senate. Effectively, such action by the Australian parliament would bring to an end uniform national regulation of Australian charities, which, after twenty years of debate, and with the overwhelming support of charities and their supporters, commenced two years ago with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012. The paper demonstrates that the Majority Committee was highly selective in its consideration of the evidence before it, preferring to ignore the largely consensus view of the charity sector, its professional advisors, knowledgeable academics and others, in favour of (in some cases poorly supported) minority views. Consequently, it raises the question: is the Coalition government's opposition to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission based on a desire to improve the efficiency of charities, or is it driven by ideology1 and in service of narrow sectional interests?