Renee Coffey
Griffith · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“He has also been a leader in sepsis advocacy, helping improve awareness, care and recovery for people affected by sepsis. Professor Hans Peter Soyer received his honour for distinguished service in dermatology, skin cancer diagnosis, medical research and governance.”
“His work aims to find skin cancers earlier, improve patient outcomes and address gaps in access to care, especially in regional, rural and remote Australia. Katarina Carroll AO APM received her honour for distinguished service to law enforcement, disaster management and the community.”
“This year's King's Birthday Honours recognised 14 Griffith recipients whose service reflects the best of our community. In my short few minutes here today, I want to acknowledge a few of them. Matthew Ames received his honour for significant service to community health, engineering, business administration and corporate governance.”
“Christine also contributed to the taskforce on domestic and family violence which delivered the landmark Not now, not ever report. She now serves on the board of DVConnect, continuing to work to support people experiencing violence and abuse. I also acknowledge the other Griffith recipients named in this year's honours.”
“Australia's strength has never come from sameness. It has come from the people who have built lives across difference, from our many First Nations communities with millennia of history and culture—the oldest continuous cultures on earth—to people who arrive with little English, little money and deep hope for their children, people who tur…”
“My friend the member for Reid said in this House in her maiden speech: In just over half a century, we have moved from an embrace of a White Australia policy to a country that is now a majority-migrant nation. But what is more remarkable is how this news was received—not with backlash but with a genuine embrace of modern Australia.”
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“In Senate estimates, I was alarmed to hear comments made by Liberal senator for South Australia, Senator Antic, about the National Immunisation Program, a program that delivers protection against many diseases through immunisation—a simple, safe and effective way to protect ourselves, our families and our communities. One vaccine included in the National Immunisation Program is for hepatitis B. Hepatitis B is one of the most common liver viruses in the world. It causes significant damage to the liver, causing both short-term and long-term effects and can lead to cancer. Around 200,000 Australians live with chronic hepatitis B, and thousands more are newly diagnosed every year. For First Nations Australians and for many culturally and linguistically diverse communities, the rates are even higher.”
“And, in this moment, our communities and experts are asking us to choose progress over protest and outcomes over outrage—to work side by side, to deliver for the environment, to support business to deliver the homes and clean energy that we need, and to hand on a healthier environment to the next generation. Let us not miss this chance. The House transcript was published up t o 20:55 . The remainder of the transcript will be published progressively as it is completed. The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Lawrence ) took the chair at 12:38, a division having been called in the House of Representatives.”
“Many commentators and politicians want to frame this legislation as a tug of war between the environment and the economy; they assert a false choice that you can have one but not the other. This is plain wrong. You don't have to choose between the environment and jobs and business. You can protect and improve our environment while removing duplication and speeding up decisions. That was at the heart of Professor Samuel's report. In the same way that we moved beyond the notion that you could act on climate change or have jobs, we must move beyond this false choice when it comes to nature. When we think of Australia's great environmental victories—the Franklin, the Daintree and Kakadu—they were never easy, but they still endure.”
“He has said: What we are talking about here is the future of nature for our children, our grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He has also been clear that this package reflects the totality of his review's recommendations. There is no variation, in any significant or, indeed, any small way, from the recommendations of the review. As Dr Ken Henry concluded in his National Press Club address, 'We have had all the reviews we need.' As he said: 'It is now up to parliament. Let's just get it done.' So to every member of this parliament—government, opposition and crossbench: let's meet this moment. Let us work across differences and pass the reforms our experts have asked for and our communities deserve.”
“This is not about saying no to development; it's about saying yes to doing it better. When we get that balance right, we build not just environmental protection; we build national resilience, confidence and pride. I want to acknowledge Professor Samuel for his excellent work in delivering recommendations that were supported by environment, First Nations and industry stakeholders alike. This is our moment to show courage and leadership together. Australians want us to act. The scientists and ecologists, planners, catchment managers and community volunteers and Professor Graeme Samuel have told us clearly what is needed. He has urged cooperation across politics and reminded us: 'don't let perfect be the enemy of good'.”
“We have also hosted a roundtable with local environmental and climate change groups, with the Assistant Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Josh Wilson, and doorknocked local residents in my community alongside the Minister for the Environment and Water, Senator Murray Watt. Environmental reform sits at the centre of nearly every challenge our nation faces. Whether it's building homes or transport, securing clean and reliable energy, supporting farmers and fishers, protecting water systems and preparing for a changing climate, all of it depends on the health of our environment and the rules that approvals are pinned to. These reforms give clarity to those who build, who invest, who grow and who care for the land. They ensure progress does not come at the expense of nature but in partnership with it.”
“Since coming into office I have met with climate action and environment groups, in my electorate of Griffith and nationally, to listen to their concerns and to share important messages from the government. In these first few months, I have met with more than 20 groups and local constituents to discuss climate change and the environment, and I want to acknowledge their advocacy. The groups have included the Griffith Australian Conservation Foundation and Wilderness Society groups, and their federal counterparts; the Australian Youth Climate Coalition; Parents for Climate; WWF Australia and many more.”
“As an ALP national conference delegate, last year I supported a motion from LEAN about the proposed development at Moreton Bay's Toondah Harbour. The development would have had an absolutely unacceptable impact on the Ramsar-listed wetland and on threatened species, such as the critically endangered eastern curlew. With my support, this motion was passed at National Conference in August 2024. Shortly following this, Minister Tanya Plibersek proposed rejecting the development due to its unacceptable environmental impact, and the proposal was soon withdrawn. It meant a lot to me when I was identified as a LEAN climate and environment champion nationally, and, now, as a member of this place, I am proud to continue this agenda.”
“While those opposite are tearing themselves apart and wanting to take Australia backwards, this bill continues this proud Labor story—looking forward, not backward. These reforms are the product of years of listening. I want to acknowledge the scientists, conservationists, renewable energy advocates, farmers, planners, local councils and industry groups who have shared their expertise and passion. I want to thank the Labor Environment Action Network, LEAN, whose persistence and vision have helped keep environmental reform on the national agenda. I've been a proud member of LEAN for many years, part of a grassroots movement of Labor members and supporters working to ensure the environment remains at the centre of our politics.”
“We've protected an extra 95 million hectares of Australian oceans and land, extending marine parks around Macquarie Island and Heard Island and McDonald Islands. We've established Environment Information Australia to give the public and businesses easier access to the latest environmental data. We've doubled funding to better look after our national parks, including Kakadu, doubled the Indigenous Rangers Program, invested over $600 million to protect threatened flora and fauna and tackle feral animals and weeds, and invested $200 million to clean up our rivers. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it demonstrates our courage to rise to the challenge and do the work to put in place effective laws that protect our natural environment.”
“In the 2000s, it was under Kevin Rudd that we ratified the Kyoto Protocol within days of taking office, launched Caring for our Country, a major landscape-scale biodiversity investment, and provided long-term funding to the Working on Country Indigenous rangers program. In the 2010s, it was under a Gillard government that we established the Climate Change Authority for independent advice, forged the Tasmanian forestry agreement to protect high-value native forests and expanded the Commonwealth marine parks to 3.1 million square kilometres, making it the largest network in the world. And now, under Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, we have signed the Leaders Pledge for Nature, adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and moved on the Nature Repair Act to create a framework for private biodiversity investment.”
“In the seventies, it was under Gough Whitlam that we established the first federal department of the environment, blocked drilling plans in the Great Barrier Reef, ratified the World Heritage Convention, and passed the National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act and the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act. In the eighties, it was under Bob Hawke that we used World Heritage powers to protect wild rivers, returned Uluru to traditional owners, launched Landcare, led the international push to ban mining in Antarctica and adopted greenhouse gas reduction targets. In the nineties, it was under Paul Keating that we protected K'gari from logging and mining and introduced the Endangered Species Protection Act and the Indigenous protected areas process.”
“If we do this well, the next generation will inherit healthier creeks, thicker canopy and continued birdsong at dusk, living proof that our nature is not just surviving but thriving. Conservation decisions outlive us. The Franklin, the Daintree and Kakadu endure because previous generations acted with courage. Koongarra, Ningaloo, the Murray-Darling and our oceans stand protected because leaders chose to protect what we love. I'm proud to be a member of the Australian Labor Party, the party that has delivered every single major environmental reform in our nation's history. When Australians think of the moments we chose protection over short-term convenience, they remember Labor governments taking responsibility and acting with courage.”
“It's a majestic bird that was undeniably robbed of the honour of being the Australian bird of the year; 2026 will be the curlew's year. Australian bird of the year or not, our job is to make sure the curlew still has safe places to nest and raise its young, just as these reforms strengthen protections for koala feed trees, creek-line vegetation and the mangroves that shelter juvenile fish. That is at the heart of this reform—practical steps that protect and restore the flora and fauna that define our ecosystems. Clear national standards, genuine restoration requirements and a strong independent regulator mean local bush care is backed by national law. Approvals will respect science and community, and the net-gain approach will leave nature better than we found it.”
“Along the riverbank, mangroves filter and protect, quietly doing the heavy lifting that keeps our city livable. In the melaleuca wetlands in Cannon Hill, the paperbarks offer shade and birdsong reminds us to take a moment to slow down. But these places are more than scenery; they are working habitat corridors. When we strengthen them, koalas have safer passages to feed and breed, urban heat is lowered by canopy and stormwater has somewhere to slow and settle. When we lose them, we don't just lose species; we lose the resilience, amenity and natural character that makes Griffith feel like home. Yes, some of the most distinctive locals are the bush stone-curlews, the long-legged night watchers whose calls have startled more than a few new residents of Coorparoo and Camp Hill.”
“Better data, open reporting and transparent decisions mean communities can see what's proposed, what's approved and why and hold us all to account. Put together, this is a fair system that rewards those who do the right thing, stops the shortcuts and rebuilds public trust while protecting the places we love. Protection also means looking after the living neighbours we share our suburbs with. Our koalas still move along the green corridors of Norman Creek and Bulimba Creek, across Whites Hill Reserve and through the remnant bushland that stitches Camp Hill, Coorparoo and Holland Park together. In summer, flying foxes crisscross the night sky, powerful owls haunt tall eucalypts and water dragons sunbathe behind local sporting ovals.”
“The third is ending the profit-from-pollution model. Penalties go up, and ill-gotten gains can be stripped so doing the wrong thing never pays. The fourth is making restoration real. If a project causes harm to nature, it must deliver a genuine net gain, leaving the environment better than before, not just promising to offset the damage on paper. The fifth is drawing hard lines. Some impacts are simply unacceptable. This bill makes those red lines clear so irreplaceable places and species are not put at risk. The sixth is speeding up good projects, not bad ones. If you bring strong information and meet the standards, your assessment pathway is streamlined—faster, clearer and less duplication. The last is shining a brighter light.”
“They bring our environmental laws into the 21st century, making them balanced, robust and forward-looking laws that protect what's precious while giving our communities and industry the clarity and rulebooks to support our local and national needs. As you can see, there is a lot in these bills, all necessary to deliver a comprehensive overhaul of our existing regulatory landscape. The first is setting clear national rules. We will put in place national environmental standards—simple, enforceable rules so decisions are consistent across the country and everyone knows the bar they have to meet. The second is creating a strong, independent umpire, a national environmental protection agency, who will do the day-to-day regulating, assessing, licensing and enforcing, with the powers to make the rules stick.”
“Across Australia, too many species are in decline, too many habitats are shrinking, and too many communities are weighed down by processes that are slow and inconsistent and lack the transparency that our communities rightly demand. Independent experts have urged us to act. In 2020, Professor Graeme Samuel's review told us the truth. The system is failing the environment and the people who depend on it. He has been plain about the urgency, saying this has been urgent for decades. From an economic perspective, as Dr Ken Henry warned at the National Press Club in July, policy paralysis must be unacceptable. These reforms answer that call.”
“Every weekend, I meet locals who tell me how much they treasure these places—people who walk our bush trails in the Seven Hills Bushland Reserve, kayak the reaches of the Brisbane River or volunteer with our many local conservation groups. Their work is quiet, local and deeply powerful. They plant, they restore, and they remind us that protecting the environment starts right here in our own backyards. The Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025 honours their work and gives Australia a framework that finally matches their local efforts. The current EPBC laws date back to the Howard era in 1999, more than a quarter of a century ago. We all know these laws are simply not fit for purpose. They're outdated and broken.”
“Every generation gets only a few chances to do something significant that truly lasts. For ours, this is one of them—to renew the laws that protect the only home we have. These reforms are a once-in-a-generation opportunity to protect and restore our natural world and to pass on an Australia that is cleaner, greener and fairer than the one we inherited. In Griffith, we don't have to look far to see what's at stake. From the mangrove edges of Norman Creek to the summit views at Whites Hill Reserve, our community is stitched together by green corridors that give life and character to our suburbs. At dawn, rowers cut through the Brisbane River as mist hangs over the water. By dusk, lorikeets return to the canopies in our many bush corridors. These rhythms are part of who we are.”
“That is why we have established the national construction industry forum to bring together unions, business and government around one table. We will keep doing the work with law enforcement regulators and people across the country to return construction to what should be—a sector where workers like those in our community can feel safe, respected and supported. That's the standard my community expects, it is the standard I expect and it is the standard this government is committed to delivering.”
“Already, the administration has achieved more progress in 15 months than the former coalition government's failed and discredited ABCC managed in an decade. More than 60 staff have been removed or resigned, a new national code of conduct is in place, a clear statement of expectations now sets out where the union stands on gifts, organised crime and menacing behaviour, and what the consequences are for crossing that line. Investigations are ongoing into state branches, financial misconduct and cultural failings. The work is challenging, detailed and essential to restoring integrity in the sector, because all workers deserve unions that represent them honestly and protect them fearlessly, not ones that exploit or intimidate them. Employers, contractors, unions all have a role to make this industry safe, fair and productive.”
“The Albanese government has been clear from the outset that there is no place for criminality, bullying, thuggery and intimidation in any workplace, including in the construction industry. The construction division of the CFMEU clearly failed to act in the best interests of its members and urgent action was needed, which the Albanese Labor government has delivered. We could not stand by and allow a once-proud union to be infiltrated by bikies and organised crime, or have bullying and thuggery part of its day-to-day business. These problems did not appear overnight. They were deeply embedded and decades in the making, and we are determined to clean them up, which was why the construction division of CFMEU was placed under administration.”
“Workers deserve a union they can trust and be proud of. When I knocked on almost 15,000 doors during the last campaign, I can tell you the CFMEU was raised with me every single day. Deputy Speaker Haines, I will leave it to you to surmise why that was. My community made it very clear to me they do not support corruption and criminality. They do not support standover tactics, bullying and sexual harassment. They do not support intimidation or abuse of power. Those behaviours have no place in any workplace, not in construction, not anywhere. In thousands of conversations across Griffith, I consistently heard people want representatives who stand up against thuggery and corruption, not stand on the same stage as it.”
“He had been working for just three months before he died, and he was so proud to be able to help support his family. Tyler's grandfather wrote of his beloved beautiful grandson that 'words cannot describe the pain and complete numbness we are all experiencing, knowing that we needed to let him go'. These tragedies show the real and ever-present risks faced by construction workers. They deserve safe workplaces, proper protections and the confidence that their employers are looking out for them. Every worker in Australia deserves that. Last year, Australian investigative journalists exposed horrific practices in parts of the construction industry, alleged links to organised crime, misuse of union roles, as well as reports of violence, intimidation and misogyny. Criminality has no place in the union movement.”
“Employers have a duty of care to keep their workers safe, not just because the law says so but because it's the right thing to do. Families should never have to worry about whether their loved ones will make it home from work. Close to my community of Griffith, we've seen the heartbreaking consequences when those protections fail. In 2023, 29-year-old worker Daniel Sa'u lost his life when temperatures reached a sweltering 36.1 degrees Celsius while working on the Cross River Rail site in Moorooka. His wife described Daniel as a wonderful father to their three children, a loving son and someone deeply missed by all who knew him. And earlier that same year ,17-year-old Tyler Whitton was placed in an induced coma and died the next day after a fall at a construction site in West End.”
“Unions have long been one of the most important forces for fairness and safety in Australian workplaces. They've fought for rights many take for granted now—the weekend, paid leave, safer work sites and fair pay. When unions work as they should, they give workers a voice, uphold dignity and protect lives, because every worker deserves to go home safe at the end of the day. So much of the work done in our construction industry is inherently dangerous. Every day workers, often young and often vulnerable, put their health and safety on the line to build the infrastructure our communities rely on—roads, hospitals and housing. It's hard, risky work, and these workers deserve to be paid fairly and treated with respect.”
“My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. How are the Albanese Labor government's policies to deliver more renewable energy, backed by batteries, helping Australians? What policies would threaten this progress?”
“We are determined to leave the climate wars in the past and to build a clean, reliable and affordable energy future for all Australians. So I call on those opposite: leave behind the denial, the delay and the division and join with us in taking meaningful action on climate change, because the cost of inaction is too great and the opportunity before us is too important to waste another decade, because the science is clear, the economics are clear and the Australian people are clear—they want progress, not politics. The choice before us is simple. We can lead the world in the clean energy future, or be left behind by it. The Albanese Labor government chooses leadership for our communities, for our economy and for the generations ahead.”
“We have the member for Hume describing emissions targets as 'a wrecking ball through the economy', even as independent modelling shows the exact opposite. That's not leadership; that's fearmongering in defiance of the facts. The member for New England dismisses the science outright, calling climate action 'a ludicrous proposition with net zero effect'. That's not leadership; that is wilful ignorance. Australians deserve better. They deserve a parliament that treats their future with seriousness, not slogans. They deserve a plan that creates good, secure jobs, lowers energy bills and ensures our kids and our grandkids inherit a liveable planet. The Albanese Labor government is delivering exactly that. We're listening to the science, investing in people and acting in the national interest.”
“Australia has everything we need to succeed to get to net zero: the resources, the technology, the people and the will. But we need leadership, not political games. While this government gets on with the job of fighting for Australia's future, the opposition continues to fight with itself. I knew, coming in to this parliament, that there would be many debates and differences of opinion, but I never imagined we would still see arguments about the validity of climate change. We have a Leader of the Opposition vowing to oppose any attempt to legislate Australia's climate targets. Before that, she said the coalition doesn't believe in setting targets at all, in government or in opposition. That's not leadership; that's abandoning responsibility.”
“We listen to the science and we act in Australia's best national interests. That's why we've acted on the advice of the Climate Change Authority. Recently we announced that we have accepted the Climate Change Authority's advice that Australia's 2035 emissions target be 62 to 70 per cent, a target that is responsible, responsive to the science, backed by a practical plan to get there and built on proven technology. Since May 2022, we've added over 18 gigawatts of renewables, wind and solar, to the grid. Wind and solar capacity is up 45 per cent since we came in to government. That's more than four times the capacity of the Snowy hydro scheme. As for our cheaper home battery policy, over 100,000 batteries have now been installed across the country, with more on the way.”
“Lee, a constituent from my community of Camp Hill, recently shared with me: It was really not until nine years ago, as our grandchildren started to arrive—we have seven of them now—that I started to read seriously about climate science and began to appreciate the existential crisis that we are … facing. Sophie, another constituent, from Greenslopes, who is worried about our shared future, noted: 'Climate change is already reshaping our lives with more extreme heatwaves, bushfires, floods and storms, and it's only getting worse.' While we can no longer avoid climate impacts, every action we take today towards our climate goal of net zero by 2050 can help avoid the worst impacts on Australians. I'm proud to be part of a government that knows climate change is real. This government doesn't ignore the experts.”
“They've shovelled sand into countless sandbags at depots while exhausted and shovelled mud out of their homes after floods in 2011 and again in 2022 with broken hearts. Both flood events were meant to be one-in-100-year events. They occurred just 11 short years apart. Large parts of my community, in suburbs like South Brisbane, West End and Woolloongabba, were inundated in these devastating floods, with people losing so much. The National Climate Risk Assessment was a grim confirmation of what we already know. No Australian community will be immune from climate risks, which will be cascading, compounding and concurrent.”
“My electorate of Griffith is a diverse one—young families alongside older Australians, university students, thriving culturally and linguistically diverse communities, small business owners, healthcare workers, people getting by on a little and people with much more—and while this diversity leads to a range of views on many issues it became clear through my door knocking on the lead-up to the last election of almost 15,000 homes in my electorate that there is one issue most people and Griffith agree on—that is, that climate change is a real and clear and absolutely present danger for us globally, across Australia and locally in my community of Griffith. The people in my community didn't need to wait to read the recently released national climate risk assessments to see the risks that climate change poses to our community.”
“(): That this House: (1) notes the: (a) Government has accepted the Climate Change Authority's independent advice and has set Australia's climate change target at a range of between 62 to 70 per cent on 2005 emissions; (b) release of the National Climate Risk Assessment, which found that no Australian community will be immune from climate risks that will be cascading, compounding and concurrent; and (c) release of the Department of the Treasury's modelling on 18 September, which found Australia's ambitious and achievable plan to reduce emissions will support continued economic growth, higher living standards and employment, including 2.3 million more people being employed by 2035, and Australia's economy being up to $2 trillion worse off cumulatively by 2050 compared to a disorderly transition scenario; (2) recognises the Government is delivering on its promises which Australians voted for to act on climate change, upgrade our energy system and seize the economic opportunity before our nation; and (3) calls on the Opposition to leave the climate wars in the past, solve its internal divisions and join the rest of the Parliament in taking meaningful action on climate change.”
“While we're working to deliver real outcomes for our communities, those opposite are busy turning on one another. Their party room is consumed by internal flights, by leaks and by name-calling. They are more divided and more divisive than ever before. They have no plan, no unity and no vision. We're focused on governing for Australians, not fighting amongst ourselves. While they remain stuck in yesterday's arguments, we will keep moving forward, delivering stronger services, better opportunities and a future our communities can believe in.”
“Half a year on from the election, our government's focus has never wavered. We're getting on with the job of building a stronger, fairer Australia and improving the lives of the people that we represent. For my community in Griffith, we're strengthening the foundations of our health system, investing in bulk-billing, making essential medicines cheaper and investing in the services that families rely on. We're backing education, from new facilities and better resources in our schools to fairer funding deals and meaningful relief for people carrying student debt, with around $16 billion wiped from their HECS balances, wiping the debt of almost 32,000 predominantly young people in my electorate and delivering tax cuts for all Australians, not just those at the top.”
“By reinforcing the ACNC's ability to uphold accountability, we are safeguarding the sector's future and honouring the millions who contribute to it. This bill is another important step to building a stronger, fairer and more compassionate Australia.”
“My wholehearted vision for the Australian charity and non-profit sector is where government and community have high expectations for transparency, compliance and, most importantly, outcomes, and where government builds capacity, provides clarity and delivers certainty for individual not-for-profits and to the broader sector. In every corner of our country Australians give their time, their skill and their hearts to make life better for others, and our charities and not-for-profits are the engines of that generosity. This bill strengthens the framework that supports their work, ensuring that trust, transparency and integrity remain at the centre of our national charitable life. When donors, volunteers and communities have confidence in the system, they give more, and together we can achieve more.”
“It complements a suite of reforms including new pathways to deductible gift recipient status, harmonisation of fundraising rules across states and territories and greater sector representation at the ACNC board. Together these measures strengthen governance, reduce red tape and give donors confidence that their generosity is respected. I am a passionate supporter of our charities and non-profit sector and I am heartened by these reforms. We, as the Australian government, should do all we can to support this vital sector and its work.”
“While charities are traditionally viewed as one of our most trusted institutions, this can't be taken for granted. When we speak about fostering and upholding trust in the sector, I am compelled to also recognise the outstanding work of Fundraising Institute Australia, which is an organisation I had the honour of working alongside as a board director. As a national peak body for professional fundraising, FIA sets the standards that ensure integrity, transparency and accountability across the sector. Their training, accreditation and advocacy support thousands of fundraisers to do their work ethically and effectively, building confidence among donors and strengthening the impact of every dollar raised. I acknowledge their important work in the sector. This bill doesn't just stand alone.”
“By increasing public trust and confidence in charities and the ACNC, this reform will help to ensure donors and philanthropists continue their support for the sector. This will contribute to the government's commitment to double philanthropy by 2030. In my previous work in the charity and non-profit sector I saw firsthand how important donor trust is. Every dollar we received was a dollar entrusted to us by the community. Without transparency and without accountability, we simply could not do the work and we couldn't achieve the outcomes. Sue Woodward AM recently shared: Trust is the foundation upon which the charity sector is built. It underpins donor confidence, volunteer engagement and the overall effectiveness of charity activities.”
“This legislation, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Strengthening Financial Systems and Other Measures) Bill 2025, will allow the ACNC to assure charities and donors that it is acting on issues of public concern and strengthening compliance, which will in turn boost public confidence that the sector is doing the right thing. Schedule 2 of the legislation allows the commissioner of the ACNC to make disclosures about new or ongoing investigations where the disclosure would prevent or minimise the risk of significant harm. Secrecy provisions previously prevented the ACNC from disclosing whether it was investigating alleged misconduct by a charity. This adversely impacted public trust and confidence in the sector and in the ACNC as an effective regulator.”
“When complaints are raised with charities, I understand that, overwhelmingly, they will move to rectify the situation or to improve their practice. The more serious or persistent cases move to investigation, often with the involvement of other regulatory intelligence or security agencies. The ACNC make judicious use of their enforcement powers and are able to revoke a charity's charitable status. In the 2023-24 financial year, the ACNC revoked the registration of nine charities due to compliance action and separately revoked a total of 190 charity registrations for reasons that include failure to submit their annual information statements.”
“For the sector, we know, as the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, Andrew Leigh, recently shared in this place, 'transparency provides the oxygen that accountability requires'. This is what the ACNC offers the sector. And in this, my new role, here in this place, I see that an important part of our work in this place is to ensure that the sector is supported with appropriate legislative changes where needed. Each month, the ACNC receives reports of concerns about a number of charities. In 2023-24, for example, just over 2,000 concerns were received. I understand from the ACNC that many of the concerns can be handled with guidance and regulatory advice or through referral to a relevant agency. However, a small portion are referred to the ACNC compliance area for examination.”
“After all, they are paid less than their counterparts in government or business and they work under considerable public visibility, scrutiny and red tape. Overwhelmingly, charity workers are motivated to do good for others. Whether they are providing assistance to vulnerable members of the Australian and international communities, advocating on human rights or environmental issues, fundraising for the arts or medical research, or providing spiritual support, these tireless workers generally see a gap, deficit or area for enrichment and commit their energies, intellects and personal resources to making their communities better places.' This sector is filled with over 1½ million workers, working hard and with integrity to advance health, social and public welfare, education and animal welfare and to protect the natural environment.”
“In my time in the charity and non-profit sector, I worked alongside some of Australia's most influential, inspiring and impactful leaders, including the late Lowitja O'Donoghue AC, CBE, DSG and Professor Peter Buckskin PSM, FACE from Reconciliation SA; Michelle Penfold and Andrew Penfold AM from the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation; and, more recently, Patricia Reid, Sean O'Halloran and Mark Paterson AO from the Australian Kookaburra Kids Foundation—and so many others. The opportunity to have worked with these leaders in this sector is an opportunity that I remain incredibly thankful for, and that's not to mention the dozens of remarkable colleagues I was also able to work alongside over the last two decades. Susan Pasco AM, the inaugural ACNC commissioner, observed: 'What is it that prompts people to work in the charity sector?”
“The use of data acts as a model of good practice for the sector and provides information that can be used for advocacy, planning and program development. In 2023-24 there were 3.8 million views on the ACNC website. This oversight has helped build on the trust and confidence the Australian public feels towards our vibrant, innovative and essential charitable sector. The contribution of Australian charities to the Australian workforce and the economy is significant. As of the most recent ACNC reporting period, Australian charities employ 1.4 million people, which is 10.7 per cent of the entire Australian workforce.”