The forgotten reform that matters to every community

Every government needs ways to understand how its decisions are experienced in the real world. Ministers can read briefing notes. Departments can commission reports.

Pollsters can measure public opinion. But some of the most valuable information comes from organisations working directly with communities.

Charities see problems early. They understand how policies affect people’s daily lives. They translate lived experience into practical insights that governments can use. That role is easy to take for granted until it comes under pressure.

Over the past decade, charities have repeatedly found themselves defending their ability to speak up on behalf of the communities they serve. Restrictions on advocacy were proposed. Funding arrangements created uncertainty. Organisations were forced to spend time and resources defending activities that should be a normal part of a healthy democracy.

The consequence was not simply a dispute between governments and charities. When community organisations become less willing to speak openly, governments receive less information. Communities have fewer opportunities to be heard. Public debate becomes less connected to the realities people are experiencing.

That is why one of the most significant unfinished reforms from the Government’s Not-for-Profit Sector Development Blueprint matters far beyond the charity sector itself.

Three years ago, the Albanese Government committed to resetting its relationship with Australia’s not-for-profit sector. Through the Blueprint process, it asked charities what reforms were needed to strengthen the sector’s contribution to Australian public life.

The sector responded with a clear message: charities need greater certainty that they can advocate on behalf of the communities they serve.

The proposed model bill, Promoting Certainty, Trust, and Independence Bill, would clarify that advocacy is a legitimate charitable activity, strengthen the independence of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission and help ensure funding arrangements cannot be used to discourage legitimate advocacy.

At its heart, the legislation is about protecting one of the ways communities participate in Australian democracy. Australia’s charity sector contributes around $200 billion to the economy each year, employs approximately 1.5 million people, and mobilises millions of volunteers across the country.

Beyond those numbers, charities play a distinctive civic role. They help communities organise around shared concerns, understand government decisions and communicate lived experience back to decision-makers. They provide a pathway through which people without privileged access to power can still be heard.

Governments make better decisions when they hear from a broad range of voices, particularly those working closest to emerging problems and community needs.

Yet halfway through 2026, the legislation has still not been introduced.

Anyone who has spent time around Parliament knows that support for a reform and delivery of a reform are not the same thing. Governments begin parliamentary terms with long lists of commitments. Over time, legislative schedules become crowded. Budgets demand attention. New challenges emerge. Political focus shifts.

But opportunities for reform do not remain open indefinitely.

Parliamentary terms move quickly. Legislative pathways narrow. Reforms that appear settled can find themselves deferred, not because anyone has rejected them, but because the window for action closes. If these commitments are to be delivered during this parliamentary term, legislation will need to be introduced and progressed before the end of the year.

This is the moment to fix the roof while the sun is shining. Otherwise, a reform agenda years in the making risks joining a long list of worthy proposals that attracted broad support but never reached the statute book. The Government asked the sector what reform looked like.

The sector answered. The legislation is ready. It’s time for the Albanese Government to protect charities’ voices.

Saffron Zomer is the CEO of the Australian Democracy Network