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Mandorla 2012 looms
The Annunciation by Bob Booth, one of the 65 finalists in this year’s 2012 Mandorla Art Award. The theme of the award, to be announced in August, is ‘Born of a woman’ - story page 4.
PHOTO: SUPPLIED
Religious charities to be exempt from reporting By Sarah Motherwell BASIC religious charities will be exempt from governance standards and financial reporting requirements in the Federal Government’s Not-for-profit (NFP) reform agenda. The draft legislation was referred to the Standing Committee on Economics for an inquiry by Assistant Treasurer Bill Shorten last Friday and will give powers to the Australian Charities and Notfor-profit Commission (ACNC) to regulate the NFP sector. Former CEO of the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria, Susan Pascoe has been appointed
as interim Commissioner of the ACNC. As Commissioner, her powers will range from gathering information about registered entities to deregistering and sanctioning charities that breach standards or fail to report their financial situation. A targeted exemption from the governance standards and financial reporting has been given to basic religious charities, which are defined under sections 205-35 of the legislation. Small charitable entities with revenue less than $250,000 will not have to provide financial reports. Registration with the ACNC is voluntary, however entities that
are not registered will not be given access to government support. While the commission is currently only responsible for regulating charities, including public benevolent institutions, its scope of power is expected to expand over the
If COAG doesn’t deliver, duplication will occur and red tape, increase. next few years to cover all NFP entities. The Australian Taxation Office is currently the de facto Commonwealth regulator of char-
ities. Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury said “the Government has decided that is more appropriate to have an independent national regulator, with a greater focus on the particular needs of the NFP sector, to have the role of determining an entity’s charitable status.” CEO of Catholic Health Australia Martin Laverty said he welcomed the scaling back of powers for the ACNC but said the inquiry needed to develop an option for state and territory governments to retain their regulatory oversight of charities. “States and territories could retain authority but have the ACNC manage reporting on their
behalf. If the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) doesn’t deliver on this possibility, duplication will occur and red tape will increase.” The draft legislation also includes a definition of a charity, which will come into affect from July 1 next year alongside the governance standards and financial reporting framework. Charities are currently defined in common law but the definition is considered by many in the NFP sector to be unclear and out of date. The legislation will be introduced to Parliament later in the year, ahead of the ACNC’s October 1, 2012 start date.
THE RISE and RISE of South America’s EVANGELICALS - Pages 10-11