
Not-for-profits should get active before the federal election, urges political trailblazer
Posted on 13 Mar 2025
Two years after he completed ICDA’s Diploma of Governance, Raff Ciccone was elected a senator for…
Posted on 13 Mar 2025
By Matthew Schulz, journalist, Institute of Community Directors Australia
Australian not-for-profits want any future federal government to shake up funding, slash red tape and invest in emerging sector initiatives.
That’s according to a snap poll of more than 100 sector leaders.
Asked “What do you most want a federal Labor or Coalition government to deliver for the not-for-profit sector?”, viewers of the latest Not-for-profit Agenda webinar, hosted by ICDA, nominated the following demands:
"As I travel around Australia, in cities and regional communities, red tape is always flagged as a major concern."
The Shadow Charities Minister, Senator Dean Smith, who was at the event, said the results reinforced the sector’s ongoing concerns about red tape.
“The sector requires the greatest possible support to continue its work, not increased red tape, insufficient consultation, or other factors that make what you do harder rather than easier,” he wrote in a comment piece.
“As I travel around Australia, in cities and regional communities, red tape is always flagged as a major concern, and it was raised as a top issue on the episode of the Not-for-profit Agenda that I joined late last year.
“Despite this, the Albanese government has repeatedly ignored or deliberately disadvantaged the interests of the sector since it came to power.”
Speaking on the Not-for-profit Agenda late last year, Senator Smith attacked Labor’s performance on the handling of new “self-review” tax returns for NFPs, and its slow response to a major review into philanthropy.
He promised that a future Coalition government would be more responsive to the needs of the sector than the current Labor government.
“When the Albanese government took office in 2022, the charities sector was facing serious challenges after the Coalition’s nine-year war on charities."
But Charities Minister Andrew Leigh, in a separate comment piece, argued it was the past Coalition government that had held the sector back.
“When the Albanese government took office in 2022, the charities sector was facing serious challenges after the Coalition’s nine-year war on charities.
“Charities were being tied in knots by outdated, inconsistent fundraising laws – spending time on compliance that could be spent helping people. They needed a government that saw them as partners, not just service providers. Across society, we saw that charitable donations were up, but fewer people were giving – a worrying trend and a long-term risk to our culture of generosity and equality of opportunity.
“We’ve tackled this by cutting excessive paperwork, aiming to double philanthropy by 2030, and strengthening social capital through community engagement.”
Readers can register free to join the next edition of the Not-for-profit Agenda (Thursday, April 3), which will feature special guests predicting the results and impact of the federal election on not-for-profits.
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