THE Australian Taxation Office (ATO) will investigate whether two anti-biotechnology lobby groups are conducting legitimate fundraising activities as a registered charity.
Last week during Senate estimates hearings in Canberra, SA Liberal Senator Sean Edwards questioned ATO officials about the charitable status of the Safe Food Foundation (SFF) and Gene Ethics, during a Senate Economics Legislation Committee hearing.
Senator Edwards highlighted his concerns about the groups’ ongoing fundraising activities, in connection to the WA Supreme Court case involving Kojonup organic farmer Steve Marsh.
Mr Marsh is suing his neighbor Michael Baxter for $85,000 for alleged economic losses, sustained after genetically modified canola swathes were detected on his organic farm in late 2010 and his organic certification was suspended.
The SFF has raised about $750,000 to assist Mr Marsh’s case while Slater & Gordon Lawyers are acting on his behalf pro-bono.
SFF director Scott Kinnear released a statement on February 16 to clarify speculation about the funding.
“The Safe Food Foundation has raised $750,000 to pay for the disbursements, namely: barristers, travel, accommodation, expert witnesses, court costs, couriers, photocopying etc.”
Speaking to Fairfax Agricultural Media, Mr Kinnear said “horrendous” costs were involved in common law action and called for more assistance, given a shortfall of about $100,000 existed.
But Senator Edwards told the Senate committee he had evidence showing that Friends of the Earth - a charitable institution endorsed as a deductible gift recipient (DGR) - were being “used openly” by the Safe Food Foundation and Gene Ethics to collect donations on their behalf.
“To facilitate their fundraising efforts in the campaign against the farmers who chose to grow the GM crops, the Safe Food Foundation has advertised all donations to the Safe Food Foundation and the Steve Marsh Legal Fighting Fund as tax deductible, despite the fact that they themselves do not have a DGR status,” he said.
“In a similar vein, anti-GM activist group Gene Ethics are using a DGR status of Friends of the Earth to solicit tax-deductible donations to their long-running campaign against agricultural biotechnology.
“I want to draw to the ATO's attention the use of the Australian tax-deductibility laws by Friends of the Earth Australia.
“Safe Food Foundation and Gene Ethics are not endorsed as a deductible gift recipient.
“Is the ATO satisfied that Friends of the Earth have met the requirements to act as an agent for these other organisations?”
In response to Senator Edward’s questions, ATO Second Commissioner of Compliance Neil Olesen said he was “not aware of that particular information” but was “very grateful to take that intelligence and look into it further”.
Speaking to Fairfax Agricultural Media, Senator Edwards said he was concerned the method of fundraising used by the two anti-GM groups implied they had the Australian government’s support for a “noble cause”.
“It just didn’t pass the smell test,” he said.
“The deductible gift recipient status should not be brought into question for highly partisan purposes like what we’re seeing in the West with the two farmers fighting in court, no matter what side you’re on.
“But in this case, it would appear that other groups, by virtue of the registration, have been used as a surrogate, which may be outside of the remit of the original approvals of these bodies, as charitable institutions.
“My contention is the Safe Food Foundation and Gene Ethics make their own cases as 'worthy causes' and seek their own endorsements, as have Friends of the Earth.”
Senator Edwards said the case between the two Kojonup farmers was “a tragedy” which saw neighbor versus neighbor and community versus community.
“You can run all the conspiracy theories you like (on GMs) but this is an ugly dispute between one farmer and another that’s ended up in the courts and the only winners are the lawyers,” he said.
In a statement to Fairfax Agricultural Media, Mr Kinnear said Senator Edwards has made a mistake.
“The Safe Food Foundation has never advertised that all donations are tax deductible,” he said.
“To the contrary we take donations from four sources, direct deposit, PayPal, Bitcoin and lastly we direct people to donate to Steve Marsh's legal fighting fund, via Friends of the Earth, should they wish to get a tax deductible donation.
“Auspicing is used extensively by not for profit organisations that do not have the capacity or desire to seek DGR status in all sorts of community sectors be they health, education, social welfare and environment.”
Gene Ethics was also contacted for comment but a response was not received before deadline.
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