In May 2014 ACL made a submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Economics Inquiry into the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (Repeal) (No1) Bill 2014.

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In April 2014 ACL made a submission to the Treasury's inquiry into the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2014 Measures No. 3) Bill 2014.  The submission particularly addressed the "in Australia" test for charities.

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Mark Fowler is a Director at Neumann & Turnour Lawyers. In this interview with the ACL’s Katherine Spackman he talks about the federal government’s decision to abolish the Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission.

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Mark Fowler is a director at Neumann & Turnour Lawyers. In this interivew with the ACL's Katherine Spackman he dicusses changes to the charity sector through the establishment of a charities commission and other reform. There is a 5 minute and 12 minute version of the interview available.

New Zealand

The Charities Commission in New Zealand has recently given notice to Family First NZ that it will deregister the organisation as a charity.

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MEDIA RELEASE



For release: Tuesday, January 15, 2013



The Australian Christian Lobby said this morning it has been misrepresented in today’s article in The Australian, “Support grows for tax reform in not-for-profits”.



Managing Director of the Australian Christian Lobby Jim Wallace said, “ACL reiterated that while we understand the position of the Community Council for Australia that fringe benefits tax concessions have greatest benefit for the higher paid employees in charities, we believe that current FBT concessions for religious practitioners should remain.”



Mr Wallace continued, “With regards to churches, it is only 'religious practitioners' who are able to benefit from FBT concessions, and not other employees like the rest of the sector. These workers are generally not paid anywhere nearly as well as equivalents in the broader not-for-profit sector, and therefore the view of the Community Council does not apply to the great majority of churches.



“Importantly, the 2010 Productivity Commission report, ‘Contribution of the Not-For-Profit Sector’, did not recommend any changes to the current FBT arrangements for religious practitioners, but it did highlight concerns in other areas of the sector which clearly the Community Council was referring to,” said Mr Wallace.



“ACL further pointed out that any changes to the tax treatment of churches and charities must acknowledge the diverse nature of the sector and particularly the effect on the charitable activities of smaller churches and organisations caused by any increased administrative overheads,” said Mr Wallace.



“Therefore, ACL believes churches should be given the choice of opting into DGR or retaining their basic religious charity status with only income tax exemption, but fewer overheads.



“This is a complex issue, and what applies to one part of the sector does not necessarily apply to the other. These nuances need to be recognised,” Mr Wallace concluded.



 

MEDIA RELEASE



For release: Sunday, January 13, 2013



The Australian Christian Lobby said today that any changes to the tax treatment of churches and charities, must acknowledge the diverse nature of the sector and particularly the effect on the charitable activities of smaller churches and organisations caused any increased administrative overheads.



The ACL agreed with the Community Council of Australia’s concern to see that the FBT entitlements not be abused and its desire to see DGR status more easily available over time to all charities.



However it is concerned that due to the administrative overheads of compliance for DGRs, that churches be given the choice of opting into DGR or retaining their basic religious charity status with only income tax exemption, but less overheads.



“At the lower end of the charities sector are thousands of church congregations who channel a large part of the high proportion of giving religious people make nationally,” said Mr Wallace.  “While DGR status should be an option, churches must also be able to elect to remain income tax exempt as basic religious charities to simplify the administrative burden for their transfer function and that of their own direct charity work.”



US studies have identified religious giving as providing as much as 75% of donations received by even secular organisations and in Australia religious giving is the highest proportion nationally at one third of total giving.  It is estimated that Christians provide a very significant proportion of private giving to overseas aid through churches and Christian organisations.

Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne made some interesting comments this week on the Greens' policies regarding private education.



He said that the Greens "maintained a bias against private education" and that "the idea of churches and charities educating children offends them. They want them educated by the state so they can control what they are taught."



To read The Australian's article on this issue, click here.



Also, The Spectator last month published an article by Rod Liddle, which examined the intolerance and hypocrisy shown by The Green Party in the UK.



He outlined the situation with Greens councillor Christina Summers, who was expelled by her party "because she could not bring herself, as a Christian, to support a motion demanding that the government change the marriage laws so that gay people could get married..."



Click here to read Mr Liddle's article.

The Queensland Director, Wendy Francis, letter to supporters in the state is now available online.



On Saturday, 28th July our State conference saw around 200 people gathering in Brisbane to listen to, and to be inspired and challenged by, a range of speakers including Hon Fiona Simpson, researcher Mark McCrindle, Jim Wallace and Bravehearts Director, Hetty Johnston.



Click here to read the rest of Wendy’s letter.

Global Care Australia, the social justice and relief arm of Christian Outreach Centre (COC), is launching the first annual National Others Week (NOW) as part of a campaign aimed at developing a greater awareness of, and appreciation for, the people around us in our community.



NOW will run from October 29 to November 4, and will encourage Australians to focus on other people rather than themselves for seven days.



According to Global Care, dedicating one week a year to reminding people to care for others, is a “compassionate and humane answer to the violence, materialism and selfishness of our society.”



The Hon Kevin Andrews MP, Shadow Minister for Families, Housing and Human Services, launched NOW in a ceremony at Parliament House in Canberra last Thursday, which was also attended by ACL’s Chief-of-Staff Lyle Shelton.



“Global Care’s motto is ‘mates helping mates’, and during this very special week, I want to encourage people everywhere to look beyond their own four walls, and just ‘be there’ for someone else – to be a ‘mate’ to them,” Mr Andrews said.