Funding to ACNC to continue until 2019
In budget papers released on 12 May the Federal Government has confirmed funding to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) will continue until 2019. However, the charity regulator will see a modest reduction in its funding from $14.8 million in the next financial year to $13.2 million in 2018-19.
The Commissioner of the ACNC, Susan Pascoe AM, stated that the continued funding will allow the ACNC to meet the expectations of ‘maintaining a free-to-access public charity register and providing guidance to assist charities in undertaking and meeting their regulatory obligations and to assist the public in understanding the work of the charity sector’.
The commitment to continued funding is good news for the charity regulator as the Government has previously indicated that it intends to repeal the ACNC by the introduction of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Repeal) (No. 1) Bill 2014. If passed, this bill would repeal the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (the governing legislation of the ACNC); and provide for the transfer of the ACNC’s role to the agency which would replace it. The budget paper states that the ACNC will continue to operate in its current form whilst the current ACNC Act remains in effect and the funding allocated in the budget reflects this.
For more information contact:
Melanie Twomey
Senior Associate
Harwood Andrews
T: 03 5225 5238
E: mtwomey@harwoodandrews.com.au
Ashleigh Wall
Senior Associate
Harwood Andrews
T: 03 5226 8559
E:awall@harwoodandrews.com.au
Ella Vines
Graduate Lawyer
T: 03 5225 5216
E: evines@harwoodandrews.com.au