EXPLANATORY STATEMENT
Issued by authority of the Assistant Treasurer, Minister for Housing and Minister for Homelessness, Social and Community Housing
Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012
Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Amendment (Register Information) Regulations 2021
Section 200-5 of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (the Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by the Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to the Act.
The purpose of the Australian Charities and Not for profits Commission Amendment (Register Information) Regulations 2021 (the Amending Regulations) is to amend the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Regulation 2013 (the ACNC Regulation) so that the community is better informed about the activities of registered charities involved in the electoral process.
Information about the activities and financial information of registered charities is available on a public database called the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) Register.
The ACNC Commissioner is responsible for publishing and maintaining information on the ACNC Register. The information that the ACNC Commissioner must publish is set out in subsection 40-5(1) of the Act and section 40.1 of the ACNC Regulation.
The Amending Regulations amend the ACNC Regulation to require the ACNC Commissioner to publish information on the ACNC Register about where to find details of the electoral expenditure and political donations of registered charities when such expenditures have been reported to and published by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). Details of such expenditures are publicly available on the AEC’s Transparency Register and the information provided by the ACNC Commissioner will consist of an electronic link to the entry for the charity on the website of the Transparency Register.
Targeted consultation with the ACNC and the AEC was undertaken and no concerns were raised. Public consultation was not undertaken because these amendments are machinery in nature, only imposing obligations on Commonwealth entities in relation to providing links to public information on an existing register. The proposed amendments will not impose any additional reporting requirements on registered charities beyond those already required by the ACNC and the AEC.
The Act does not specify any conditions that need to be met before the power to make the regulations may be exercised by the Governor-General.
Further explanation of the details of the Amending Regulations are set out in Attachment A.
The Amending Regulations are a legislative instrument for the purposes of the Legislation Act 2003.
The Amending Regulations commence three months after they are registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.
A Regulation Impact Statement is not required given additional compliance costs are limited and only expected to affect the ACNC and the AEC.
A Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights is at Attachment B.
ATTACHMENT A
Details of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Amendment (Register Information) Regulations 2021
Section 1 – Name of the Regulations
This section provides that the name of the Regulations is the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Amendment (Register Information) Regulations 2021 (the Amending Regulations).
Section 2 – Commencement
This section provides that the Amending Regulations commence three months after the instrument is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation. Delaying the commencement of this instrument will allow the ACNC time to implement the changes to their systems and processes needed to be compliant with the ACNC Regulation upon commencement of the Amending Regulations.
Section 3 – Authority
This section provides that the Amending Regulations are made under the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Act 2012 (ACNC Act).
Section 4 – Schedules
This section provides that each instrument that is specified in the Schedule to this instrument will be amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule, and any other item in the Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.
Schedule 1 – Amendments to Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Regulation 2013
The Amending Regulations insert an additional item in the table in section 40.1 of the ACNC Regulation. This additional item requires the ACNC Commissioner to provide links on the ACNC Register to the part of the AEC’s Transparency Register that discloses details of the political donations and electoral expenditure of registered charities.
Electoral expenditure is expenditure incurred for the dominant purpose of creating or communicating electoral matter. Electoral matter is matter communicated or intended to be communicated for the dominant purpose of influencing the way electors vote in a federal election.
However, the ACNC Commissioner is only required to report this information on the ACNC Register if they are satisfied that information about expenditure by the registered charity has been included on the AEC Transparency Register. This ensures that the ACNC Commissioner only needs to include the link for charities that have incurred such expenses where the ACNC Commissioner has been made aware of the information.
ATTACHMENT B
Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Amendment (Register Information) Regulations 2021
This Legislative Instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.
Overview of the Legislative Instrument
The purpose of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Amendment (Register Information) Regulations 2021 is to amend the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Regulation 2013 to better inform the public about the political activities of registered charities. These amendments achieve this by requiring the ACNC Commissioner to report information if they are satisfied that a registered charity has already disclosed financial information relating to electoral expenditure and/or political donations to the AEC and it has been published on the AEC’s Transparency Register.
This measure involves changes to the operation of the ACNC Register, however it does not allow the ACNC to publish information that is not already publicly available. As such, it does not engage the right to privacy or the right to political expression.
Human rights implications
This Legislative Instrument does not engage any of the applicable rights or freedoms.
Conclusion
This Legislative Instrument is compatible with human rights as it does not raise any human rights issues.