Acting ACNC commissioner wants “co-design approach”
8 August 2022 at 5:03 pm
Pro Bono News sits down with ACNC’s acting commissioner and asks her if she’s planning to apply to stay in the job permanently.
Acting commissioner of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) Deborah Jenkins is focused on a co-design approach to working with the sector, she said in an exclusive interview with Pro Bono News.
But she’s deflecting questions about whether she’ll throw her hat in the ring for the top job, saying she’s “only a week in”.
Pro Bono News revealed exclusively on Friday the composition of the selection committee appointed by Treasury to find the next permanent commissioner, likely to be appointed in around October this year.
Jenkins said her first week in the job has been “really positive” and the focus for her and her team is to get as much feedback as possible.
“I am really focused on feedback as a gift,” she said.
“In my previous role as deputy commissioner of Small Business at the Australian Tax Office (ATO) I used a co-design approach to work towards solutions from a collaborative perspective. I find that works really well.
“I have a lot of meetings this week to understand the industry, what we are doing well and what we could do better and that is my focus now and in the coming weeks.”
Jenkins is focusing on the key objects in the law that the ACNC is bound to uphold – registration, education, compliance and red tape reductions – but when asked if the cultural approach would change, she only said “the team are very passionate about the sector”.
“For me it is about striking a good balance between support and firmer action and a shared understanding,” she said.
“Co-design and consultation is key. I want to know what they need, how they need it and when.”
She added that she is “conscious of the demand on volunteers at the moment. I say this as we come out of Covid. These are challenging times and I would say the sector is more important than ever”.
The ACNC also unveiled a raft of new governance courses for the for purpose sector and say 200 registrations have already been logged.
