Most of our Partners and members will be aware that the Government has over the last few months made Regulations to expand the reach of ACNC Governance Standard 3, with the possible effect that a charity could be de-registered for relatively minor advocacy issues, andwith a consequential extra compliance burden for many charities (see our previous article). The CMA Standards Council, along with many others, made submissions to the Government opposing the proposed amendments.
We are pleased to report that the proposed amendments were defeated in the Senate by a combination of Labor, the Greens and some Independents. Accordingly a charity’s obligations under ACNC Governance Standard 3 will remain unchanged. We see this as the preferred outcome for the Christian charitable sector.