Federal Social Inclusion Minister Mark Butler says the code will form a practical guide to ongoing consultation between governments and the not-for-profit (NFP) sector.

“These workshops follow an online survey conducted in March 2012 that saw more than 500 organisations have their say on where they want to see improvements in government consultation practices,” says Butler.

“The Federal Government has asked the Reform Council, headed by former Queensland Attorney-General Linda Lavarch, to lead workshops with the sector.”

Federal Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury says the Federal Government will use these consultations to start a discussion about governance within the sector.

“Our approach in developing a set of principle-based minimum governance standards will be to start by asking the sector what works,” says Bradbury.

“We want to draw from existing governance codes to create effective national standards under the new regulatory framework to be administered by the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission.”