MEDIA RELEASE Thur, 4 Dec 2008
Senate’s wholesale charity reform proposal welcome: PilchConnect
PilchConnect – Australia’s first dedicated community legal service providing free assistance to not-for-profit
organisations – today welcomed the Senate’s recommendations for wholesale regulatory reform of the not-
for-profit sector.
The Senate Standing Committee on Economics’ inquiry into disclosure regimes for charities and not-for-profit
organisations tabled its report to Parliament today. Sue Woodward, PilchConnect Manager, says the report
adopts the vast majority of recommendations made by PilchConnect and is a positive and necessary step
towards reform of the sector. However, she warned that recommendations without action will further fatigue a
sector whose health is already at risk because of a complex and inconsistent regulatory scaffold.
“PilchConnect welcomes the release of the report. We commend the Committee for grasping the sectors’
concerns and responding to the call for urgent regulatory change,” said Ms Woodward.
“The Committee has adopted PilchConnect’s key recommendations for reform, including:
a single, independent, national regulator for the not-for-profit sector
nationally consistent laws on legal structure and fundraising
a Minister for the Third Sector with responsibility for the unique issues that this important sector
faces, and
an expert taskforce to look at implementation of the recommendations.”
“This Inquiry is the latest in a long line of inquiries and reports, including the comprehensive Charities
Definition Inquiry in 2001, none of which have been acted upon by Government. More words without actions
are useless to the sector.”
“The sector has spent vast resources providing submissions to government to explain the complex
regulatory issues they face in their day-to-day operations. This diverts limited resources away from their core
operations in assisting marginalised and disadvantaged Australians.
“With today’s report as the road map of what is needed, we urge the Rudd and State governments to work
together to implement the key changes. Urgent reform is vital for a sector that has immense economic and
social significance, but is struggling under regulatory red-tape.
“In particular, we urge the Rudd government to appoint the expert implementation taskforce. These
recommendations need to be implemented urgently to give the not-for-sector the regulatory underpinning
and support it needs to continue to provide much needed services to the community during these
economically difficult times.”
Contacts
Sue Woodward, Manager PilchConnect ( 03) 9225 6680 / 0419 347 997, sue.woodward@pilch.org.au
Mat Tinkler, Acting PILCH Executive Director, (03) 9225 6681 / 0438 595 049, mat.tinkler@pilch.org.au
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