Treasury Laws Amendment (Strengthening Accountability for Tax Adviser Misconduct and Other Measures) Bill 2026

Senator AYRES (New South Wales—Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science) (17:54): Well, there is no DGR category and no purpose that allows charities to support illegal activities here in Australia or abroad. Registered charities already must ensure that they meet their ongoing obligations to the ACNC, including by complying with the ACNC's governance standards.

The governance standards require a charity to remain charitable, operate lawfully and be run in an accountable and responsible way. Charities that operate overseas, including giving funds, must also comply with the ACNC's external conduct standards. These standards require charities to take reasonable steps to ensure appropriate standards of behaviour, governance, oversight and record keeping when undertaking activities or providing resources overseas.

Further, the standards require charities to comply with all Australian law, including the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 and hate speech legislation. The external conduct standards also require a charity to comply with Australian law as it relates to international sanctions, terrorism financing, and slavery or slavery-like conditions and to have reasonable procedures to ensure compliance with those laws.

The external conduct standards don't extend to conduct under international law. The governance and external conduct standards require charities to ensure that their resources are used only to further their purposes and that they are operating in a way that is consistent with a not-for-profit entity. Charity registration can be revoked by the ACNC where the governance and external conduct standards are not met.

Where a charity's registration is revoked, the ATO may also remove its access to DGR status and other tax concessions.