Earlier this year, the Australian Government announced proposed amendments to Governance Standard 3 regarding charities that engage in unlawful activity.
However, the proposed changes were subject to a disallowance motion in the Senate on 25 November, meaning no change will take effect.
The current Standard remains unchanged and still applies. Governance Standard 3 requires charities to not act in a way that, under Commonwealth, state or territory law, could be dealt with as:
- an indictable offence (being a serious crime that is generally tried by a judge and a jury), or
- a breach of law that has a civil (not criminal) penalty of 60 penalty units (currently $12,600) or more.
Charities are already required to follow Australian laws. This Standard allows the ACNC to investigate potentially serious breaches of law.
Read more about Governance Standard 3.