SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Research into and dissemination of information useful to the community: charitable purposes

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“Research into matters that are useful to the community is capable of being charitable under the fourth head [of charity as defined by Lord Macnaghten i.e. serving a “public benefit”] as well as falling under the head of education and…”

[supported by case law: Re Besterman’s Will Trusts (1980) Times, 22 January repeated in McGovern v A-G [1982] Ch 321. And see The Consumers’ Co [1985] Ch Com Rep 12-14, paras 28-32].

Source: Extract from The Law and Practice Relating to Charities, 4th Edition Hubert Picardo QC (p. 220-221).

Comment: This means that the charitability of an incorporated society can be established in law under at least two heads: advancement of education AND serving a “public benefit” through the “promotion of moral  or spiritual welfare or improvement”.

“Promotion of Moral or Spiritual Welfare or Improvement” and “the Charitability of Moral Improvement”.

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Extract from The Law and Practice Relating to Charities, 4th Edition Hubert Picardo QC (pp. 220-221)

It now appears to be possible to isolate a further [4th] head of charity [in addition to relief of poverty, advancement of education and advancement of religion] consisting of ‘trusts for certain purposes which are not religious but tend to promote the moral or spiritual welfare of the community or a sufficiently important section of the community’. [Emphasis added]

Note: A trust to elevate the community spiritually has been upheld in Canada: see Re Orr (1917) 40 OLR 567.

See Tudor on Charities (9th edn) 115-117 [for discussion on what constitutes “a sufficiently important section of the community”]

This far from compendious [4th] head [of charity] is admittedly fashioned from heterogeneous materials. No general principle should be deduced from animal charities which are an anomaly. Trusts for the promotion of temperance are more surely justified as charities by reference to the promotion of health than by reference to the somewhat vaguer concept of moral improvement….

Re Price ….[involving] an unincorporated association called the Anthroposophical Society of Great Britain …. The learned judge [Cohen J] on hearing evidence that the teachings of Dr Rudolf Steiner were directed to the mental or moral improvement of man and were not contra bonos mores decided that they might result in such mental or moral improvement and upheld the gift under Lord Macnaghten’s forth head of charity….

Certainly religion has been described as ‘fostering the moral or mental improvement of the community‘ [ Waltz v Tax Comrs of City of New York 397 US 664 (1970)]. But the notion of moral improvement was further upheld as charitable in Re South Place Ethical Society [ [1980] 1 WLR 1565] and there are other Commonwealth cases supporting the charitability of moral improvement. [See Re Wright (1923) 56 NSR 364 (training in higher ideals); cf Cameron v Church of Christ Scientist (1918) 57 SCR 298 at 304 (uplifting of humanity).

‘Sexting’ growing issue for Kiwi teens

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An increasing number of New Zealand teenagers are seeking help when relationship breakups lead to “sexting” material going viral.

Cybersafety organisation Netsafe is reporting a rise in incidents where videos and photographs containing personal sexual content are sent into cyberspace after a relationship breakup, including “handfuls” of teenagers each month.

It aligns with new research that found sexting was increasing among 14 to 19-year-old American teenagers, indicating a higher prevalence of sexual activity in their offline lives.

Researchers at the University of Texas medical branch found that nearly 30 per cent of US teenagers had sent nude photos via email or text, and 57 per cent had been asked to.

Netsafe executive director Martin Cocker said New Zealand’s statistics would be similar, with sexting usually starting when teenagers became sexually active.

“It is certainly going on.”

A “handful” of the sexting cases reported to Netsafe each month involved teenagers and were usually reported when a relationship had gone bad, and sexual material taken or received during the relationship was distributed among a wider audience.

“It is not so much the creation that’s the issue, it’s the later distribution of it. Unfortunately that happens a lot.”

Netsafe offered advice and support. But most often the distributed files could not be entirely deleted from cyberspace, he said.

The Law Commission has sought public opinion on potential digital issues. It received more than 70 submissions and was preparing a final report and recommendations for the Government by the end of the year.

–Fairfax NZ News and Reuters

The Dominion Post, Thursday, 5 July, 2012, p. A5.

Jody O’Callaghan and Reuters

Stuff

News Link: http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/7222873/Sexting-growing-issue-for-Kiwi-teens

Albany-based shell companies key to NZ$1.5 billion money-laundering scandal

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New Zealand companies with a vacant driveway in Auckland’s Albany as a registered address have been key players in a US$1.2 billion (NZ$1.5b) money laundering scandal in central Asia that helped bring down a government and sparked deadly riots.

A report by London based non-profit NGO Global Witness [www.globalwitness.org] offers more embarrassing revelations over company formations that in May saw New Zealand struck off a prestigious European Union banking “white list” because of weak money laundering and terrorism financing rules.

The report also outed several recurring director/shareholder names on the New Zealand’s Companies Office register that are likely to be low-paid fronts for unknown people who control the shell companies.

For more see:

NZ shell companies in Kyrgyz corruption.

Story by Michael Field. Fairfax NZ News. Published 02/07/12

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/7205840/NZ-shell-companies-in-Kyrgyz-corruption

 

 

Call from Family First NZ – A Registered Charity – For De-Funding of Sex Ed Programmes run by three charities

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MEDIA RELEASE: Family First NZ, [a registered charity – in a media release issued 1 July 2012], is calling for the government to withdraw funding of the Family Planning and Rainbow Youth’s sex education programmes, resources and websites which fail to tell the full facts and which compromise the concerns and wishes of parents, and the safety of young people. [Both the Family Planning Association and Rainbow Youth Inc. are lobby groups regularly involved in “political advocacy” and are also registered charities].

“Despite groups like Family Planning and Rainbow Youth being challenged by US psychiatrist Dr Miriam Grossman to a debate last week to defend their websites and pamphlets targeted at young people, they ran for cover. They also appeared to take down one of the offending websites during Dr Grossman’s visit,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

Family First is especially concerned about websites such as curious.org.nz, theword.org.nz, getiton.co.nz and a number of Family Planning pamphlets.

“The current approach in NZ sows confusion about right and wrong and says the moral absolute is – use condoms. The government should fund evidence-based education resources which are approved by parents rather than saying one thing to parents and another to their children. Family Planning receives more than $11m from the government of which $2.6m is for education.”

A nationwide poll in January 2012 of 600 young people aged 15-21 found that only 19% supported just the ‘safe sex’ message currently being taught in schools, with one in three (34%) wanting ‘values, abstinence, and consequences such as pregnancy’ taught instead, and a further 42% asking for a combination of both – especially amongst older teens. A poll of parents in 2010 found that three out of four parents of young children want the abstinence message taught in sex education – with 69% of kiwis overall supporting the ‘wait’ message.

“This is a direct rebuke from young people to the ‘use a condom’ and ‘everyone’s doing it’ messages being pushed by groups like Family Planning, AIDS Foundation and Rainbow Youth,” says Mr McCoskrie.

“Many parents were rightly horrified last year when details of what was being taught in schools under the guise of ‘sex education’ surfaced. Judging by the results of the current approach – which is a good place to start – sex education has been an utter failure. New Zealand has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates in the OECD, our STD rates are out of control, and the number of teenage girls having abortions is tragically high.”

“For those youth who are sexually active, they are not being told the truth. Groups like the Family Planning Association and the AIDS Foundation are perpetuating the myth that as long as you use a condom, you can pretty well do what you like in terms of promiscuity, experimentation, and fringe behaviours – with little or no information on the physical or emotional ramifications or prevention of disease.”

In one example, a mixed class of boys and girls were asked by the AIDS Foundation [a government funded registered charity] if they had masturbated lately and were given condoms and strawberry-flavoured lubricant. They were also given a leaflet featuring graphic pictures, terms including “co*k” and “wa*k”, and advice on the best condoms. Reports last year highlighted that children as young as 12 are being taught about oral sex and told it’s acceptable to play with a girl’s private parts as long as “she’s okay with it”. In other cases, 14-year-old girls are being taught how to put condoms on plastic penises, and one female teacher imitated the noises she made during orgasm to her class of 15-year-olds. One concerned father took his 12-year-old son out of a sex education class at his all-boy school after he came home upset about what had happened during one of the lessons. It included a question-and-answer session that focused on, “I have learned that my girlfriend has a thing called a clitoris. I really want to play with it. Is that okay?” The answer was: “Yes, if you ask her and she’s okay with it.”

“A government-funded organization should be willing and able to defend their ideology and services which the taxpayer funds. It is time the government held them accountable,” says Mr McCoskrie.

ENDS

Family First NZ website: www.familyfirst.org.nz