The Australian Government has announced amendments to Governance Standard 3 to ensure that Australian charities that engage in or use their resources to actively promote unlawful behaviour face enforcement action.
The new regulations will empower the Australian Charities and Not‑for‑profits Commissioner to investigate charities engaging in or promoting serious unlawful acts of trespass, vandalism, theft or assault and threatening behaviour.
Charities will also be required to maintain reasonable internal controls over their resources, such as their funds, social media accounts and employees, to ensure they do not use them to actively promote others to commit offences.
The ACNC will provide guidance and education to registered charities once the Regulation comes into effect to help them understand and comply with the governance standard. It is expected that the government will table the regulation in early August, but it will not come into effect until it has passed in both houses of Parliament.
To view the media release announcing the amendment, click here
To view the amendment to the ACNC regulations, click here
To view Governance Standard 3 (as it currently stands), click here:
To view an explanation of the proposed changes, and arguments against the proposed changes from the Human Rights Law Centre, click here
To take a ProBono survey on how the proposed changes will affect you, click here