Three years on, governments are failing to deliver fundraising reform for over 60,000 charities
16 Feb 2026
MEDIA RELEASE
Three years after the Federal Government announced that National Fundraising Principles would be adopted in every State and Territory, governments have still not fully delivered nationally harmonised fundraising laws promised to Australia’s 60,000 charities.
While State and Territory governments have now all released implementation plans, progress remains unacceptably slow and fragmented.
Even with recent announcements from NSW and WA, no jurisdiction has yet taken all required steps to deliver genuine harmonisation – adopting the National Fundraising Principles without amendment and fully repealing or switching off existing local fundraising laws.
It remains unclear how quickly decision makers in jurisdictions where little progress has been made will progress these urgently needed reforms. Justice Connect warns that partial implementation and jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction approaches are undermining the core purpose of the reforms: to reduce red tape, simplify compliance, and create a single, nationally consistent fundraising framework for charities operating across Australia.
Justice Connect’s Head of Not-for-profit Law, Geraldine Menere, said governments are failing to follow through on both the spirit and the substance of their commitment.
“Three years on, charities are still stuck navigating a patchwork of outdated, duplicative, and inconsistent fundraising laws,” Ms Menere said.
“Having an implementation plan on paper is not success. Success means charities can fundraise nationally under one clear, consistent set of rules – and that has simply not been delivered yet.”
A failure to work together
In addition to slow and incomplete implementation, governments have failed to work in a coordinated and collaborative way to support the sector through the transition.
Jurisdictions have not worked together – nor in meaningful consultation with the charity sector – to develop uniform regulatory guidance to support charities to understand and comply with the National Fundraising Principles in practice.
“The lack of coordination leaves charities in limbo,” Ms Menere said.
“Charities are being told there is a new national framework, but they are still having to interpret it through differing state-based lenses. That is the opposite of harmonisation.”
This lack of coordination risks entrenching inconsistency, increasing compliance costs, and eroding trust in the reform process.
Reforms at risk
Justice Connect is also concerned that, without an ongoing, shared commitment from governments, the hard-won promise of nationally harmonised fundraising laws will unravel over time.
“If governments do not fully repeal existing fundraising rules and maintain alignment into the future, we will simply drift back to the same fragmented system charities have been trying to navigate for decades,” Ms Menere said.
A renewed call to action
Charities are operating in an increasingly challenging environment, facing rising demand, workforce pressure, and funding constraints. Every additional hour spent navigating unnecessary red tape and complexity is time diverted away from supporting communities in need.
Justice Connect calls on governments to urgently:
• Fully implement the National Fundraising Principles without amendment (if yet to do so)
• Repeal or switch off all overlapping and inconsistent local fundraising laws
• Work together, and with the sector, to develop nationally consistent regulatory guidance
• Recommit to maintaining harmonised fundraising laws into the future
“The National Fundraising Principles can still deliver what was promised,” Ms Menere said. “But only if governments move beyond plans and deliver real, coordinated action now.”
Read our score card showing the status of reforms in each State and Territory.
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MEDIA ENQUIRIES:
Emily Malone, Head of Engagement, Justice Connect
emily.malone@justiceconnect.org.au
+61 3 8636 4476
About Justice Connect:
Justice Connect is a legal service organisation and charity that designs and delivers high impact interventions to increase access to legal support and progress social justice.
About Justice Connect’s Not-for-profit Law:
Not-for-profit Law is Justice Connect’s specialist program for community organisations and is a sector-led response that not-for-profits and their peak bodies trust. It’s the only service of its kind in Australia. Since its establishment in 2008, Not-for-profit Law has helped prevent and resolve legal, regulatory and governance issues for hundreds of thousands of community organisations across Australia.