The Assistant Treasurer, Bill Shorten, has announced that the Australian Government will “shortly release a discussion paper that seeks to elicit the diversity of community views” as part of the reforms to the charity and not-for-profit (NFP) sector announced in the 2011–12 Federal Budget. Under the proposed changes, NFP entities will be required to pay income tax on profits from their unrelated commercial activities that are not directed back to their altruistic purpose. Mr Shorten said he expected the proposed reforms would not cause detriment to the vast majority of commercial activities conducted by NFPs.
Mr Shorten’s spoke to the Australian Charity Law Association Annual Conference on 23 Sept 2011 outlining the development of the proposals . His full speech can be found here