The South Australian Council of Social Service welcomes the state government’s introduction of legislation to remove duplicated licence and reporting requirements for charities.
The legislation exempts charities that are registered with the national charity regulator, the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission (ACNC), from reporting requirements under the SA Associations Incorporation Act, and from the need for a separate SA fundraising licence.
The legislation also abolishes the need for different fundraising licences for events and for general fundraising, combining them into one licence category for non-ACNC registered charities.
SACOSS Executive Director, Ross Womersley said,
“This is a good piece of red tape reduction which will make it just a bit easier for SA charities to focus on their core work
“This legislation was first mooted two years ago, but was delayed by federal government moves to abolish the ACNC – moves that thankfully did not get through the Senate. Now the future of the ACNC seems more assured, it is good to see that SA has again taken the lead in using the services of the national regulator to reduce red tape for federally registered South Australian charities
“The ACNC registration provides a good level of transparency and public accountability for charities, and this legislation acknowledges that – while still maintaining SA legislative safeguards for charities that are not federally registered
“SACOSS congratulates the government for its work with the sector on this reform and calls on all members of parliament to support and pass the legislation as soon as possible.”
There are approximately 4,000 South Australian based charities registered with the ACNC, and up to 1,000 of them may have duplicated reporting requirements.
There are currently 821 charities that hold licences to fundraise in South Australia (some of which are interstate based charities), while not all types of charities are required to hold fundraising licences.