ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the sector has organized itself in response to significant government reforms in Australia since the 1990s. The creation of an Australian charity regulator emerged from two competing, yet complementary, agendas: the sector sought respite from burgeoning compliance regimes, whilst the government of the day recognized opportunities for broader regulatory and taxation reform emerging from the sector's willingness to support recommendations of a report by the Productivity Commission. The chapter also reflects on the impact of the new regulator, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), on the sector and explores challenges the ACNC may face in regulating a sector that has worked hard to "save" it. After more than two years of uncertainty about the future of the ACNC, and following the 2016 election, the government announced that it would not proceed with the ACNC Repeal Bills and that it would retain the ACNC to progress regulatory reform and improves the nonprofit sector.
