A group of 12 charities have written to UN special rapporteurs warning they risk losing their tax-deductible donation status under new rules.

Under the planned changes, charities could be deregistered for organising, promoting or having a presence at peaceful assemblies where minor offences are committed or where they fail to meet restrictive rules.

Organisations including the St Vincent de Paul Society, Amnesty International, Oxfam and the Australian Council of Social Service signed the letter. They are seeking to block new regulations for the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.

Human Rights Law Centre senior lawyer Alice Drury said urgent action was needed from overseas.

"These rules would silence charities at a time when their advocacy is more crucial than ever, as charities support Australian communities through unprecedented crises like catastrophic bushfires and the pandemic," she said.

"These proposed laws are a case of extreme overreach and have no place in a democracy."

"The most important social changes, like women winning the right to vote, First Australians being classified as people instead of fauna, the five-day working week, are all rights fought for with people power," said Sam Klintworth, director of the Amnesty International Australia.

"The idea that peaceful protest could lead to organisations like Amnesty being unregistered is unthinkable in a country that prides itself on giving everyone a fair go."

Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar, who oversees the charity regulator Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, has said that the regulations are needed to ensure activist organisations "masquerading as charities" will no longer be tolerated.

"Australians support charities through donations and tax concessions with the expectation that charities' resources are directed towards charitable works. But, not the promotion of or participation in unlawful activities," he said.

Sukkar's office said the rules are aimed at sustained illegal activity and would not result in deregistration for staff tweets.

There are about 56,000 registered charities across Australia.

Sources

Financial Review

Canberra Times

CathNews NZ

Amendments to the Australian Charities and Not-for-profit Commission (ACNC) Regulations tabled by the government give the Charities Commissioner discretion to deregister a charity for minor offences.

Under the new laws, charities could even be deregistered for speaking or tweeting in support of a public demonstration, or if others use their materials, such as a logo.

Alice Drury, a senior lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre, said the government's proposal would "silence important advocacy by Australian charities."

"This treatment of charities is punitive and unprecedented - no business or political party faces deregistration for minor breaches of the law," Drury said.

"Nor are other entities pre-emptively punished because of what the regulator thinks they might do in the future."

The assistant treasurer, Michael Sukkar, said the nation's 59,000 registered charities performed exceptional work supporting society's most vulnerable.

But the new governance standards "[ensure] charities that misuse and take advantage of their status to take part in or actively promote illegal activity can be stripped of tax concessions and other benefits."

The government argues the regulations "do not impose a new burden on charities that are already complying with Australian laws."

It says charities "will still be able to participate in advocacy activities provided they are consistent with their charitable purpose and conducted lawfully."

The opposition's spokesperson for charities, Andrew Leigh, said the Coalition had "waged a war on charities" over the past eight years. This included a failed past attempt to scrap the charities commission altogether.

Leigh said the Coalition wanted charities to be "seen and not heard".

"When the government first introduced these governance changes, they claimed they were cracking down on criminals masquerading as activist charities," Leigh said.

"Yet in the past four years, just two out of 59,000 charities have been disqualified for breaking the law. There is no charity crime wave that needs an urgent solution."

Leigh said charities that broke the law could already be deregistered. The new regulation "merely gives Liberals a new set of tools to shut down dissenting voices".

Sources

The Guardian

Amnesty