Australian charities fear that threatened crackdown on the sector could silence their lobbying efforts despite the Morrison administration watering down several elements of its original plans.
Labor accused the coalition of trying to “silence dissenting voices” after the government introduced new rules to widen the types of crime charities could be de-registered for.
The government said the new regulations, announced Friday after months of controversy over the proposed changes, would boost confidence in the sector.
They would empower the regulator to investigate charities that commit or promote serious illegal activities such as trespassing, vandalism, theft or assault, and threatening behavior.
This applies regardless of whether they are classified as a criminal offense under state and territory law or as a less serious category of summary offenses.
The government made several changes to its original proposal after facing backlash from the sector, including limiting the scope of summary crimes recorded.
The rules will also prohibit charities from using their resources – including social media accounts – to “actively encourage” others to engage in illegal activities.
This replaces the wording in the original proposal that charities should not use their resources “to promote or support” such activities.
Last month, a group of nonprofit and philanthropic experts warned that the proposed crackdown would muzzle the charity sector, limit dissenting opinions and stifle political advocacy.
Charity sector insiders investigating the latest version of the regulations told Guardian Australia that the regulations could empower the regulator to deregister charities to encourage people to participate in peaceful protests, including protests on public land.
They cited as an example that a rally is unauthorized and blocks traffic, or when people stay on the premises after being told to move on.
Sources said that both situations were common and rally approvals were often very late, which meant it would make it more difficult for charities to promote or allow their employees to attend a rally.
The sector also fears the proposal could be used to shut down charities that fail to monitor parishioners who use a charity’s Facebook page to organize a peaceful protest, such as a sit-in in one of the offices MPs.
Alice Drury, a senior attorney at the Human Rights Law Center, said the government proposal would “silence important advocacy from Australian charities.”
“This treatment of charities is criminal and unprecedented – no company or political party needs to be de-registered for minor violations of the law,” said Drury. “Also other companies are not punished preventively because the supervisory authority thinks that they could do in the future.”
The government’s remarks stated that the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission commissioner may consider action if he reasonably believes that a registered company has failed to comply with the new regulations, “or more likely than not that a registered company will do this ”. not complying with these provisions ”.
Drury said the move came at a time when charities were working to support communities through unprecedented crises, from bushfires and floods to an economic recession and pandemic.
“The Morrison government should support charities and embrace our advocacy and not threaten us with new rules that might shut us down for speaking out,” said Drury.
Deputy Treasurer Michael Sukkar said the country’s 59,000 registered charities have done an exceptional job helping the most vulnerable in society – but the new governance standards “[ensure] Charities that abuse and exploit their status to participate in or actively promote illegal activities can be deprived of tax breaks and other benefits. “
The government argues that the regulations “do not place new burdens on charities that already comply with Australian law”.
It is said that charities “can continue to participate in advocacy activities as long as they are for their charitable purpose and lawfully conducted”.
But acting executive director of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, George Selvanera, said the proposed changes would “endanger the self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.”
“Already marginalized communities will be cut off from vital support because nonprofits will not be able to fully deliver their services for fear the government will arm the proposed charity provisions,” Selvanera said.
“Organizations controlled by the Aboriginal community would be silenced, [with] their involvement in the public debate has been restricted. “
Opposition spokesman for charities Andrew Leigh said the coalition had “waged a war on charities” for the past eight years, including a failed previous attempt to completely abolish the Charities Commission.
Leigh said the coalition wants charities to be “seen and not heard”.
“When the government first introduced these government changes, they claimed they were targeting criminals posing as activist charities,” Leigh said.
“In the past four years, however, only two out of 59,000 charities have been disqualified for violating the law. There is no wave of charitable crime that needs urgent resolution. “
Leigh said charities that broke the law could already be deregistered, and the new ordinance “merely gives liberals a new set of tools to stop dissenting votes”.
The government’s explanations argue that the changes are needed because, under the Australian system of government, the states and territories determine whether illegal activity is classified as criminal or summary crime.
“This has resulted in potentially serious crimes such as trespassing, vandalism, theft, bodily harm and threatened personal injury being defined as summary crimes in some jurisdictions,” the notes read.
Sukkar’s office said charities must “maintain adequate internal controls over their resources, such as their funds, social media accounts and employees, to ensure they are not using them to actively encourage others to commit violations.”
Comments are closed.