SPCS

SOCIETY FOR PROMOTION OF COMMUNITY STANDARDS INC.

Problem Gambling Foundation of NZ: A charity’s ‘political advocacy’ and litigation

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It was announced in the NZ Herald on Monday (19/03/14) that The Problem Gambling Foundation [“PGF”], will take the Ministry of Health to court to try to overturn a decision the ministry recently made, under which PGF will lose most of its funding (apart from its Asian Family Services), in favour of the Salvation Army. PGF claim, with support from Labour Party and Green Party spokespersons (see below), that there are big questions yet to be answered over the alleged flawed process behind that decision, one which could leave many of its 63 employed staff out of a job. The foundation has been the key provider of addiction and treatment services for gambling problems for about 20 years and has dealt with 25,000 people in that time.

The Society for Promotion of Community Standards Inc  points out that what the media needs to investigate more fully are the implications of the fact that (1) The Problem Gambling Foundation of New Zealand [“PGF”] is a registered charity (registered on 1 May 2008 – Reg. No. CC23709) – and as such cannot be involved in political advocacy – which it has been, and (2) it received $4.7 million in tax-payer fund income in 2013 ($4.6 m in 2012) , via the Ministry of Health budget, the very Ministry it intends to take Court action against via an expensive High Court judicial review. Furthermore, the media has not highlighted the fact that PGF does not have anything in its constitution authorising its trustees/officers to allow the foundation to be involved in litigation involving tax-payer sourced money (via Ministry of Health funding) and/or from donors who can claim tax rebates (because PGF is a registered charity). [Read more…]

Human Rights Action Trust Aotearoa/New Zealand – charity offering “legal advocacy service”

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The Human Rights Action Trust Aotearoa/New Zealand is a Charitable Trust that was registered as a charity (Reg. No. CC37775) with the Charities Commission currently on 30 June 2008. In its Trust Deed, available on the Commission’s website (www.charities.govt.nz), the Trust states its key Principles to include:

2.1 Pursuing social justice in Aotearoa/New Zealand through the promotion of, and respect for, the human rights of all persons, including the promotion of New Zealand’s obligations under international human rights law [e.g. The United Nations Universal Declaration of Humans Rights – to which the New Zealand government is a signatory].

2.2 Promoting an understanding of the inalienability, interdependence and universal application of all human rights laws.

2.4 Promoting the importance of human rights in the development and implementation of policy.

All three laudable principles designed to advance and promote community standards, clearly undergird an intended programme of political advocacy spelt out in the Trust’s statement of purposes, that include:

3.2   Provide policy advice to Government agencies, Parliamentary committees and such other legislative or Executive organs on the content of draft Bills proposed from a human rights perspective.

3.3   Provide a high quality, legal advice and advocacy service to bring litigation on matters relating to human rights or other issues of significant public interest.

It appears that the Charities Act 2005, as interpreted by the Charities Commission, permits registered charities to have such laudable principles and purposes as outlined above, involving a degree of “political advocacy” in the form of “advice” advanced to Parliamentary Committees by charity members or their representatives. [Read more…]

Disestablishment of the Charities Commission

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There has been an open call for public submissions to the Government Administration Select Committee which is considering The Crown Entities Reform Bill – a call made prior to the dissolution of parliament on 20 October 2011. If enancted into law, it will disestablish the Charities Commission and transfer its function to the Department of Internal Affairs. Under the proposed new legislation, the registration and deregistration of charities will be carried out by a new independent decision-making board of three people. 

The Society (SPCS), a registered charity (CC20268), is currently finalising a detailed report to be submitted to the select committee and Minister responsible for the Commission, focusing on the practices and activities of the Monitoring and Investigation Team of the Charities Commission.

The recent overturning by the High Court (via a judicial review) of the decision of the Charities Commission to deregister the charity Liberty Trust – which has charitable purposes based on biblical principles of debt-relief – has in part prompted some politicians to seriously question the functions of the Commission and the independence of the decision-making processes that its Monitoring and investigations team engage in. A number of controversial deregeistration decisions and public disquiet have prompted politicians to call for changes.

 The SPCS has strongly endorsed the charitable activities of Liberty Trust (Charity Reg. No. CC11287), which won an appeal by way of High Court judicial review of the Commission’s deregistration decision. The Charities Commission was set up under the Charities Act 2005 and it registered Liberty Trust as a charity on 8 October 2007.

Further reading:

Liberty Trust – Resurrected as charity by High Court ruling

https://www.spcs.org.nz/wp-admin/post.php?post=2574&action=edit

Liberty Trust website

www.libertytrust.org.nz