Charity Laws: Why does the government want to change the standards that regulate charities?

An alliance of charities, which includes Amnesty International, Anglicare, Oxfam and the Fred Hollows Foundation have written an open letter to the Prime Minister bemoaning proposed reforms to the standards that govern charities. What are the changes?

Commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Dr Gary Johns at a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, 7Dec 2017. Source: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

The Federal government wants to amend Standard 3 of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Regulation.  The change would extend the scope of activities that registered charities are not allowed to engage in, and therefore the range of reasons why they could lose their registration.  Critics believe there are several ways the new regulations could be administered to strip a charity of its registration in circumstances where they haven’t committed any offence at all

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