32. Red Tape Bonfires

Hi. I am Greg and I want to grumble about “repeal day” – it’s tomorrow and it’s the day touted by the Federal government where over 10,000 regulations and legislative provisions will be repealed in a veritable bonfire of red tape reduction.

It is very exciting … except that you cut red tape, you don’t burn it. As any park ranger will tell you (if you can find such an increasingly rare species), when you burn things – even with good intentions – it can get out of control.

The government has copped lots of criticism over the proposal to remove restrictions on financial advisers' secret commissions and is now trying to hose down that particular part of the bonfire.

But I want to grumble about another bit of the pyromania: the abolition of the national charity regulator, the ACNC (Australian Charities and Not-for-Profit Commission). This is not a hangover of some ancient legislation – it is a body put in place 18 months ago after a raft of government reports recommending its establishment.

There is widespread support for the ACNC in the community sector, although there are a few different voices from some parts of the Catholic Church who object to a slight increase in transparency for their tax free entities. But we only have to watch the nightly news to see how well trust and self-regulation has worked for the Church.

Let’s be clear though. Abolishing the ACNC is not about red tape reduction – it is simply a transfer of regulation from the ACNC back to the Tax Office or to ASIC. And when they had responsibility previously, they failed to even maintain an up-to-date list of who was entitled to get tax concessions and where those organisations could be found.

More importantly, the Tax Office has been used by past governments to attack and pressure charities who were doing effective policy advocacy.

For that reason, when the ACNC was established, its governing legislation ensured the independence of charities and our right to advocate for charitable causes. With its abolition, we lose the protections of an independent regulator.

This government has already been attacking advocacy: defunding the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia and the Environmental Defenders’ Offices, and cutting funding to Aboriginal community legal centres on the basis that advocacy and not front-line services should be cut.

So beware.

There are historical precedents for using bonfires to silence dissent: books, witches, villages – but it is not a good record.

I am Greg and I am grumbling.

This Grumble can be heard online or by podcast.
First Broadcast: 25 March 2014