Equality Australia, the powerful gay and trans lobby group opposing female-only spaces for biological women, has been using an HIV/AIDS charity to collect tax-deductible donations after its own bid for tax-deductible status was thrown out by the courts.
For at least two years, Equality Australia has funnelled tax-deductible donations through Thorne Harbour Health Ltd to bypass rulings that it was not entitled to Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status because it was primarily an advocacy group, not one providing benevolent relief.
The legality and ethics of the arrangement have been questioned in submissions to both the ATO and the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission, with one complainant asking whether Thorne Harbour Health is simply “laundering tax-deductible donations on behalf of a group whose work lies outside its own charitable remit”.
A note at the bottom of Equality Australia’s website donation page states that donations over $2 are tax deductible and that “Equality Australia partner with Thorne Harbour Health (formerly the Victorian AIDS Council) to improve the wellbeing of LGBTIQ+ people”. Donors receive a receipt from Thorne Harbour Health.
The influential lobby group – which counts Governor-General Sam Mostyn as patron – has divided the LGBTIQ+ community with its opposition to lesbian groups who want female-only spaces for biological women.
Equality Australia is seeking to argue in the Federal Court against an appeal by Giggle app founder Sall Grover, who was found last year to have unlawfully rejected transgender woman Roxanne Tickle from her networking platform because she was a biological man.
Earlier this week The Australian revealed that Equality Australia’s influential chair of trans equality, activist Teddy Cook, has a long friendship with Ms Tickle that predates her first complaint against Ms Grover with the Human Rights Commission.
However, the perk does not come into effect until later this year and Equality Australia is continuing to collect tax-deductible donations through Thorne Harbour Health.
Source: Concerns over legality as Equality Australia bypasses tax snag