Charity Inquiry's Flood of Response
5 February 2001 at 12:02 pm
Not for Profit organisations large and small have made submissions to the Federal Government’s Inquiry into the Definition of Charities and related organisations.
Over one hundred submissions have already been posted on the government web site.
Pro Bono Australia will endeavour to discuss a variety of opinions and suggestions made in the submissions over the coming months.
One of the first submissions to the inquiry comes from a small business operator who challenges the competition with the Not for Profit sector for various government contracts.
A Sydney-based training and employment agency operator has made a submission calling for the removal of barriers to free and equal competition between the private and Not for Profit sectors, particularly in relation to government tenders.
Jacqueline Jones, the Director of Quest Solutions says her company employs 70 staff and currently has contracts to deliver Training and Job Network Services in ACT and NSW.
The Quest Solution submission says that in the early 90’s, it experienced a great deal of prejudice as a private company competing to deliver services which traditionally had been delivered by government funded organisations such as Skillshare and TAFE.
Jacqueline Jones says her company has grown because it delivers its service well, even with the growth in competition for her core business from charitable and Not for Profit organisations.
She says while this is not an issue there are problems that relate to unfair tax advantages under Fringe Benefits legislation which applies to the sector and the issuing of training and employment services tenders which are only open to the Not for Profits.
Jones says as a direct result of the ability to offer better salary packages, Not for Profit organisations are successfully poaching her well-trained staff on a regular basis offering salary packages boosted by generous exemptions.
She says there seems to be a vestige of discriminatory practices when the number of tenders offered for training and employment services can be put to open tender while a few are selected for community organisations to deliver.
The submission says an example of this is the Work for the Dole projects that are only to be run by Not for Profit community organisations.
The full text of this submission and others can be read at
http://www.cdi.gov.au/html/public_submissions.htm.
Record your thoughts on this submission or even your own submission details on our Pro Bono Australia Forum.
