February Seminar – Legal issues in managing volunteers 

Volunteers are a critical part of many NFP community organisations, performing essential and varied roles. While the value of volunteers in the community sector is immeasurable, few organisations fully understand how the law applies to their volunteers.

This one-day seminar will help participants systematically analyse the ‘life-cycle of a volunteer', to identify the key legal risks and obligations at each stage and to learn simple procedures to minimise or avoid the risks, and comply with the law. 

The training is designed for volunteer managers and co-ordinators in NFP organisations.

Details for the seminar are: 

Date: Monday 25 February 2025
Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm (registrations open at 9:30am)
Venue: Russell Kennedy Lawyers
Level 12, 469 La Trobe Street, Melbourne
Fee (incl. GST):
$100 per person for small organisations (up to 10 EFT employees)
$200 per person for large organisations (over 10 EFT employees)

To register for this seminar, follow the link below:

New guide for secretaries of incorporated associations

PilchConnect has comprehensively updated its Guide for Secretaries to reflect to new laws, regulations and model rules for Victorian incorporated associations. You can access the Secretary's Satchel - Guide for Secretaries of Incorporated Associations here.

The Guide contains eight chapters that address different responsibilities of secretaries in incorporated associations including:

• the appointment and removal of secretaries
• legal duties of secretaries
• keeping registers and records of the association
• preparing for and running annual general meetings, special general meetings and committee meetings
• preparing minutes of meetings, and
• reporting to Consumer Affairs Victoria.

The chapters outline relevant laws and provide practical guidance and tools to assist secretaries in their role. The tools can now be downloaded separately from the chapters.

PilchConnect thanks Consumer Affairs Victoria (a division of the Victorian Government Department of Justice) for funding contributed to this project.

Note - the secretary referred to in the Guide is the secretary under the new Associations Incorporation Reform Act, formerly known as the "Public Officer".

Tools to assist incorporated associations to understand new legal requirements

In addition to producing a new Guide for Secretaries, PilchConnect has put together three key resources to assist incorporated associations to understand the new requirements of the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012.

The resources include:

• A Transitional Guide - with practical guidance on transitional issues for incorporated associations including:
  • transitioning from the old reporting system to the new reporting system
  • transitioning from "public officer" to "secretary"
  • transitioning from old to new model rules, and
  • a summary of new laws
• A Rules Checklist - that outlines:
  • new requirements for rules of incorporated associations
  • steps incorporated associations need to take to make sure their rules meet new requirements, and
  • a table comparing the old and new rules requirements
• Model rules comparison table - that compares the old model rules with the new model rules. This table will assist associations to consider whether the new model rules will be suitable for their association.

You can access these resources on our website, below.

Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012 Exposure Draft

Last week, PilchConnect lawyer Simone Ball gave evidence on behalf of PILCH before the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee (the Committee) on the Exposure Draft of the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012 (the HRAD Bill).

The evidence provided to the Committee supported and drew on PILCH's written submission in response to the HRAD Bill. PILCH's submission supports the passage of the HRAD Bill, however makes recommendations to improve the Bill.

Recommendations relevant to the not-for-profit sector include:

• to separately define 'volunteers' rather than include 'volunteers' within the definition of 'employee' 
• to reconsider the imposition of vicarious liability on community organisations for acts done by volunteers ‘in connection with' their role - which PilchConnect considers to be too broad, and may lead to a reluctance by not-for-profits to involve volunteers, and  
• to clarify the definition of 'clubs and member based associations', which is currently unclear.

The submission and evidence provided to the Committee emphasised the need to provide guidance and education tailored for the not-for-profit sector to assist the sector to understand their new obligations.

PILCH's written submission is available our website, here. 

(PilchConnect lawyer, Simone Ball, together with PILCH lawyer Lucy Adams and members of the Human Rights Law Centre address the media before giving evidence to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee on the Exposure Draft of the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012.) 

Draft ACNC governance standards and financial reporting obligations

The Government has released for public consultation:

• a paper on draft governance standards that, once finalised, will apply to charities registered with the ACNC, and 
• draft regulations on the new ACNC financial reporting framework for charities registered with the ACNC.

The governance standards cover six topics that will apply to charities, including the purposes and not-for-profit nature of charities, accountability to members, compliance with Australian laws, responsible management of financial affairs, and suitability and duties of those who manage charities. You can download the governance standards consultation paper here.

The draft financial reporting regulations set out the content requirements for financial reports lodged with the ACNC, and propose to significantly expand the range of professionals authorised to conduct a 'review' of medium sized registered charities. You can download the draft financial reporting regulations here.

We encourage charities to review these drafts and make submissions. PilchConnect will prepare a submission, which will be included in the next ebulletin. 

The consultation period ends on Friday 15 February 2013.

ACNC regulatory approach consultation

The ACNC is currently seeking feedback from charities and the public on its approach to regulation, which is outlined in the ACNC regulatory approach statement, available here.

The ACNC is now interested in obtaining feedback on:

• how clearly the statement communicates their proposed regulatory approach
• whether the statement reflects an understanding of charities and an appropriate regulatory approach
• examples of how the ACNC could use their enforcement powers, and 
• general suggestions for improvement.

The formal consultation period will close on 1 March 2025.

For information on how you can participate in the ACNC consultation visit the ACNC website: 

Potential regulatory duplication for charities - consultation released

The Council of Australian Government (COAG) last week released a regulatory impact assessment (RIA) for consultation on ways to reduce regulatory duplication between the proposed Commonwealth governance and reporting standards and existing state and territory requirements.

Statekeholders are invited to provide feedback on the extent of regulatory duplication for entities currently regulated by both the ACNC and state/territory regulators.

The closing date for submissions is 21 February 2025.

The RIA and further information on the consultation is available on the COAG website, below. 

PilchConnect is updating its online resources to reflect the new laws for Victorian incorporated associations in the Associations Incorporation Reform Act 2012 and associated regulations.

The following resources have been recently updated to reflect the new laws:

• Financial reporting
• Legal duties for committee members
• Document and record-keeping requirements, and 
• Changes to your organisation's constitution or rules. 

We will continue to update our resources and include these updates in the e-bulletin.

Is your charity registered with the ACNC?

As readers of this ebulletin will be aware, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (the ACNC) is now up and running. As the regulator of Australian charities, the ACNC will:

• provide a central point for the registration of Australian charities 
• determine the charitable status and public benevolent institution status of organisations
• implement a ‘report-once-use-often' reporting framework, including the introduction of a ‘Charity Passport', and
• build and maintain a publicly searchable register of charities.

How can you find out if your organisation is registered with the ACNC?

Organisations that are currently endorsed by the Australian Tax Office to access charity tax concessions will have automatically been registered with the ACNC at the end of 2012.

The ACNC maintains a public database of the organisations that have been registered as charities. To find out if your organisation is registered with the ACNC, simply go to the ACNC register, here, and enter the name of your organisation in the relevant fields.

TIP! If your organisation has been automatically registered with the ACNC, you should hear from them in February to find out what you need to do next. If you want further information before then, there is a great summary on the ACNC website, available here.

TIP! If your organisation accesses Commonwealth tax concessions as a charity, it must be registered with the ACNC. If your organisation no longer wishes to access tax concessions, but has been automatically registered with the ACNC, your organisation can opt out of registration. You can opt out of registration any time up to 2 June 2024 - but your charity will lose any charity tax concessions and possibly other Commonwealth benefits it receives, from 2 December 2012.

What information is available on the public register?

At the moment, only basic information about organisations is available on the ACNC register - including each organisation's:

• legal name 
• Australian Business Number, and 
• state or territory of registration.

During 2013, however, more information will be made available about a charity and its activities.

TIP! If you are a charity that is registered with the ACNC, you need to ensure that the information on the ACNC register is up-to-date. The law requires that charities notify the ACNC of any changes, which are then updated on the ACNC register.

For more information on the ACNC, visit their website below.

National SACS Education and Information Program

The National Disability Services, Australian Council of Social Services and Jobs Australia have recently announced the roll out of Phase II of the National SACS Education and Information Program across Australia. Free workshops will update participants on the ongoing changes to the industrial landscape within the disability and community sectors, including information on meeting new equal pay requirements.

The workshops, available to all disability and community service providers, will commence on 7 February and will run until mid-June 2013. For more information and to register online, visit the website below.

PilchConnect is a specialist legal service which provides legal help to not-for-profit community organisations.

The service provides free and low cost legal information, training, advice and legal referrals for Victorian not-for-profit community organisations. We also undertake law reform and advocacy work about the wide range of legal issues that affect the not-for-profit sector.

To find out more about our legal services, visit our website below:

 PilchConnect - Legal help for community groups. 

View our staff profiles here. 

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