Treasurer Costello has taken on a formidable challenge with the Charities Bill 2003. His goal is to codify 400 years of common law on what constitutes a charity into a short piece of legislation.
In its present form, there are inherent problems associated with the Bill. A single joint Catholic Church submission, to which Catholic Welfare Australia is a signatory, describes the bill as ‘unworkable’ and ‘failing to provide clarity and transparency’.
One of the principal concerns is the Bill seeks to take charitable status from those organisations whose advocacy role involves making public statements (sic criticising government) on behalf of those in the community who are less fortunate or in any way afflicted. Section 8 provides a list a ‘disqualifying purposes’ for a charity including those entities ‘attempting to change the law or government policy’. Advocacy needs to be no more than ‘ancillary or incidental’ to other charitable purposes to expel an organisation from the charitable class. Currently, the common law requires that advocacy not become the ‘dominant’ purpose. So there is a significant tightening in the language in the proposed law. It is as close to a total injunction on public comment as can be brought about by the government.
The Treasurer has publicly stated the Bill does not seek to go beyond the current common law. However, it is clear from the draft legislation and the Explanatory Memorandum the current approach will make it more difficult for an organisation to receive, or in some instances retain, charitable status. Losing charitable status will mean a not-for-profit organisation loses tax exemptions, such as payroll tax, that charitable organisations have had to come to rely upon to survive.
The sector, and the churches in particular, believe there is an important principle at stake here. Those persons who seek the assistance of charities also look to those charities to speak out on their behalf. Why should the Government think such advocacy is anything but completely consistent with the legitimate charitable purpose of seeking to help the disadvantaged?
There is the fear the Government is trying to impose its own model of how the charitable sector should be structured and hence how they ought to operate within the public arena. Just think ... without public debate, or even the odd bit of ‘dissent’ to deal with, the Government would have all its own way.
Coalition governments have always supported the not-for-profit sector and the work they carry out.