Community & Associations Newsletter – December 2018
Published on December 20, 2018 by Josephine Heesh
Introduction
With the approach of Christmas and the holiday period our final newsletter for the year brings you:
- News of the external conduct standards commencing 1 July 2019.
- Our involvement with the Aged Care Royal Commission.
- An alert for the upcoming elections and political advocacy.
- Recommendations from the Religious Freedom Review.
- And some Good News!
The Carroll & O’Dea Community & Associations Team
External Conduct Standards
The proposed external conduct standards were tabled in Parliament in the first week of December 2018 and will become effective on 1 July 2019. There has been opportunity for the sector to engage with Treasury to put submissions on the final version of the standards. The standards are set out as Division 50 of the Australian Charities and Not for Profits Commission Act 2012 and were anticipated when the Act commenced but have been delayed until now.
The standards apply to all charities so basic religious charities do not have an exemption as they presently have from the governance standards.
In summary:
Read more
Josephine Heesh, Partner
Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.
The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety was announced on 9 October 2018, by the Commonwealth government.
The terms of reference for the Commission open with an emphasis on the quality of aged care services provided to Australians, the extent to which those services meet the needs of the people accessing them, the extent of substandard care being provided, including mistreatment and all forms of abuse, the causes of any systemic failures, and any actions that should be taken in response.
An alert for the upcoming elections and political advocacy
The basic principle for charities to observe is that a charity cannot engage in a disqualifying purpose. These are defined to include “promoting or opposing a political party or a candidate for political office”.
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Josephine Heesh, Partner
The Religious Freedom Review Report Recommendations
In this article, we examine recommendations 5 and 7 contained in the Religious Freedom Review Report of the Expert Panel (“the Report”), and explain why those two recommendations have garnered the most media coverage and sparked the fiercest debate.
Read more
Merryn Lynch, Solicitor
Josephine Heesh, Partner
Good News
Share the Dignity
Women’s limited access to sanitary items in countries such as India, Africa, and Bangladesh is well documented. However, “Period Poverty” is also an issue in Australia, and charities, government initiatives, and businesses are acknowledging and taking action on this issue.
