ACNC In Repeal Day Bonfire

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has placed the abolition of the charity regulator, the ACNC on the top of his repeal day hit list describing the process as the biggest bonfire of regulations in the country’s history.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott places the ACNC on the top of his repeal day hit list.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten referred to Pro Bono Australia's pre-election survey in his rebuttal.

In a Ministerial Statement to Federal Parliament before the repeal day omnibus regulations were introduced, Abbott told Parliament that as part of his government’s red tape reduction plan it would abolish the ACNC along with more than 9500 unproductive regulations.

"The first repeal day will abolish the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission because people serving our community don’t deserve a new level of scrutiny," Abbott said.

He said the government’s deregulation plan, including the abolition of the charity regulator, would make annual savings of $720 billion.

He said regulation was necessary but there was a limit to what the government should do to protect Australians.

In reply, Federal Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said repealing the ACNC was an insult to the charity sector.

“Abolishing the charities commission is an insult to taxpayers who want to see whether donations go,” he said.

“It is an insult to charities, who will lose their visibility and governance support. It is bad for the public, who will be vulnerable to more frauds and scams.”

He said that to repeal the ACNC, “you would think that the charity sector would be calling for the repeal”.

Instead, he said 54 charities and Not for Profits had written an open letter to the Prime Minister that valued to work of the ACNC and called to keep it in place.

Shorten said that by saying “it’s only 54 charities,” the Minister for Social Services was disrespecting the right of charities to have an opinion of their own.

Shorten also made reference to Pro Bono Australia’s pre-election survey of more than 1500 members of the Not for Profit sector.

The survey found that 81 per cent of respondents believed the establishment of the ACNC was important, while only six per cent of respondents supported regulation by the Australian Tax Office.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister Josh Frydenberg has introduced three omnibus bills as part of the repeal day package including:

• a Bill for an Act to repeal certain Acts and provisions of Acts and to make various amendments of the statute law of the Commonwealth, and for related purposes. (Omnibus Repeal Day (Autumn 2014) Bill 2014 );

• an Act to repeal certain Acts, and for related purposes. (Amending Acts 1901 to 1969 Repeal Bill 2014);

• and a Bill for an Act to make various amendments of the statute law of the Commonwealth, to repeal certain obsolete Acts, and for related purposes. (Statute Law Revision Bill (No. 1) 2014).

The Repeal Day Bills will be debated in Parliament on March 26.

Check out today's NFP Kneebone Cartoon here