Federal Senators have blocked proposed laws aimed at cracking down on activist groups. The proposals would have given the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission the power to deregister charities for minor offences, even when it believed they were merely likely to occur.
South Australian independent Rex Patrick tabled a disallowance motion to comfortably defeat the changes with the support of other crossbenchers, the Labor Party, and the Greens. Senator Patrick told the Senate that the regulations “amount to a prohibition of freedom of political communication and expression, and expose charities to the risk of deregistration for actions most Australians accept as a right … such as peaceful protests and sit-ins. Quite simply, the intent of these regulations is to stop charities engaging in lawful advocacy in pursuit of their charitable purpose.”
The current Governance Standard 3 remains unchanged and still applies; and requires charities to not act in a way that, under Commonwealth, state or territory law, could be dealt with as:
- an indictable offence (being a serious crime that is generally tried by a judge and a jury), or
- a breach of law that has a civil (not criminal) penalty of 60 penalty units (currently $12,600) or more.
To view Governance Standard 3, click here.