27 July 2010

I would like to begin by acknowledging the Kulin people – the traditional owners of the land on which we meet – and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.

I’d also like to acknowledge John Peacock, General Manager, Associations Forum.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you bright and early on your first day.

You have a very full program ahead of you and so I appreciate the chance to set the scene, so to speak, by bringing you up to date on the government and regulatory developments that are shaping the environment in which you work.

Yours is a sector that’s vital to the health of our nation. This diverse sector of over 600 000 organisations, large and small, that contribute to our community in so many ways – from helping others in need, to protecting the environment, to advocating on behalf of members interests as many of you here today do.

The government is keenly aware of the enormous value the sector brings to our nation’s prosperity and social cohesion.

And that’s why since coming to government almost three years ago we’ve placed a high priority on improving the environment in which you work, and, importantly, on improving the relationship between us.

One of our first acts as government was to remove all of the anti-advocacy clauses in every government contract with the sector that had been put in place by the previous Coalition government.

These so called “gag clauses” prevented not-for-profit organisations from speaking out on behalf of others in need and from advocating for change.

These clauses were evidence of the lack of trust between the former government and sector. And even before coming into government, we had resolved to address the breakdown in the relationship through the development of a National Compact between government and the Third Sector.

The Compact was an election commitment that I’m proud to say we fulfilled in March this year following almost two years of consulting and drafting in partnership with the sector.

It is a partnership agreement setting out how we want to work together to achieve our shared vision of an inclusive, prosperous and fairer Australia, and it sets out the framework for building a stronger, more productive relationship.

The Compact was launched at an official signing ceremony held at Parliament House in March and was a real watershed moment, crystallising the change in our relationship from one of distrust to one of partnership.

Today, almost 300 organisations – including some of the associations in this room – have signed to become Compact partners with us.

The Compact is not just about the principles with which we want to engage in this partnership. It’s also about action – action to address some of the long-standing obstacles to the sector’s effectiveness.

One theme that came through very clearly in the consultation phase of the compact, was the degree to which the sector’s regulation was not fit-for-purpose – a labyrinthine maze of overlapping regulatory requirements, duplicated reporting systems and inconsistency between commonwealth, state and territory jurisdictions.

Tackling this complexity has been one of my main priorities as Parliamentary Secretary for the Voluntary Sector, and I’d like to update you on some of the work we’ve been doing to improve the environment in which you work.

First of all, we put the not-for-profit sector on the agenda of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) for the first time in our nation’s history.

Through this cross-government mechanism, we’ve been building greater consistency in the financial reporting that sector organisations must submit to funding agencies and departments across all states and territories and the commonwealth.

This has seen the introduction this month of a simplified National Standard Chart of Accounts that all governments will use in their reporting requirements for the sector.

All Australian governments have now approved the adoption of the Standard Chart of Accounts for government funding and reporting from not-for-profits.

This is available now as an option for sector organisations wishing to reduce their administrative burden and will considerably reduce the confusion for those organisations that seek grants from both their state or territory and federal governments.

COAG has also been working on harmonising fundraising legislation so that organisations wishing to run fundraising drives across the country can do so with one application rather than eight.

And with the passage of the Corporations Amendment Act, those not-for-profits operating under the Corporations Act will benefit from tiered reporting and auditing requirements that are proportional to their organisation’s size.

Further, Standard Business Reporting is now being rolled out to reduce the reporting burden for business and consideration is being given to extending this to the Third Sector.

However, as important as these developments are, they are just a prelude to our broader Third Sector reform agenda.

As many of you would know, the government last year commissioned the Productivity Commission to undertake a study into the contribution of the not-for-profit sector.

Aware of the many regulatory and governance issues facing the sector, we wanted to know in more detail about the complexity of the problems and how government could act to address some of these obstacles to productivity.

The Commission handed down its report in January this year. It’s a dense read.

Making 39 detailed recommendations and providing a detailed portrait of the sector and its characteristics, the report has given government and the sector plenty to think about.

The Productivity Report was handed down at about the same time as the government received the Henry Review of Australia’s taxation.

Interestingly, both the Commission and Henry recommended the establishment of a national registrar or regulator of not-for-profit organisations, as have several other previous reviews into the not-for-profit sector.

The idea of a registrar is to provide fit-for-purpose sector regulation that minimises duplication, while also building trust within the community that not-for-profit organisations are well-governed and managing public donations responsibly.

I know there is interest in the sector for the idea of a national registrar or regulator, and we will continue to discuss these ideas with you as we are considering all of the recommendations put forward as part of the Productivity Commission’s Report and the Henry Review.

And I’d like to take this opportunity to pass on the Treasurer’s assurance, which he gave at the time the report was handed down, that we will not make any changes to the tax system that will harm the Sector.

This includes removing the benefit of tax concessions, raising the gift deductibility threshold or changing income tax arrangements for clubs.

I should also stress that moving forward with reforms to the sector would be done in consultation with the sector, in accordance with the compact’s commitment to authentic consultation and genuine collaboration between the sector and government.

In fact, I convened a discussion about the Productivity Commission Report a few weeks ago to seek advice from the sector about how best to sequence the reforms.

If you have read the Productivity Commission report closely, as I have, then you would acknowledge the concerns expressed about the capacity of the sector to absorb and manage the range of reforms – for us, and for you, it is imperative that we get a new regulatory framework right.

So these are very exciting times in the sector – times of change and transformation.

But I couldn’t let this opportunity pass without mentioning another exciting upcoming occasion for the not-for-profit sector.

Next year is the tenth anniversary of the United Nations International Year of the Volunteer and the UN has asked member nations to use the anniversary as an opportunity to celebrate the enormous contributions of volunteers.

For those of you who work in organisations that benefit from volunteers, next year is an important time for acknowledging their contributions to your organisation.

The Australian Government will be celebrating this occasion in a number of ways, including the release of the first ever National Volunteering Strategy.

This will be a truly national statement on volunteering, developed in collaboration with state and territory governments, and will outline a framework for government’s support for volunteering into the future. We are also developing a program of events for celebrating the year.

However, it’s important that all sectors – government, business, not-for-profit sector and the broader community in general find ways to celebrate and recognise the over 5 billion volunteers who help shape our nation.

Whether it be an extra special event for your volunteers during National Volunteer Week in May or producing a memorial tribute of some kind, there are so many ways that we can find to acknowledge and support our volunteers and encourage more people to get involved.

And perhaps International Year of Volunteering plus 10 might be your invitation to get involved in volunteering yourself, if you haven’t already discovered the joys of doing so.

Thank you again for the opportunity to update you this morning on the strategic developments in the sector.

For those of you who have further questions about the Productivity Commission Report and the Henry Review, I invite you to come along to this afternoon’s panel session where I’ll be happy to answer further questions and hear your views.

I wish you a productive and enjoyable conference, and look forward to talking further with some of you this afternoon.