Bushfires: ‘problem’ law restricts use of donors’ cash

A NSW MP has called for legal reform to ensure millions of dollars raised in bushfire donations can go where it is most needed.

Comedian Celeste Barber. Picture: Getty Images

A NSW MP has called for urgent legal reform to ensure millions of dollars raised in donations for the state’s Rural Fire Service can go where it is most needed, including to the families of dead firefighters.

A viral Facebook fundraiser for NSW’s Rural Fire Service had reached a staggering $46m by Wednesday night.

But the Aust­ralian comedian who launched the appeal, Celeste Barber, has hit a ­serious legal roadblock over how the money can be spent.

Legal expert­s have told The Australian the RFS’s trust that manages the donations — the Brigad­es Donations Fund — strictly prohibits spending on anything other than training, resources and fire equipment for the RFS.

Donations cannot be spent on volunteers or the families of dead or injured firefighters. It also cannot­ be shared with other organ­isations, including interstate volunteer firefighting brigades.

NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge said donors who had contribute­d to Barber’s appeal would not have understood the conditions of the trust — and that only urgent reform to the NSW Rural Fires Act would allow the RFS to extend the use of donations to its volunteers, or even other non-government programs for wildlife rescue or bushfire relief.

“There is a desperate existing need for additional RFS uniforms, functioning face masks and other personal protective equipment,” Mr Shoebridge said.

“However, I’m sure many people­ also want these funds to be available for the families of firefighters who have been killed or seriously injured in the fires.

“It’s a real problem that the trust deed doesn’t allow that and this should be fixed as soon as ­parliament returns. The scale of the generosity is extraordinary and we need to ensure that the money goes where it was intended.”

Barber launched her appeal for the NSW Rural Fire Service on Friday — wildly exceeding her goal of $30,000 within hours of posting.

This week she assured her 6.5 million Instagram followers she was in talks with the RFS to work out how they could help her share the “f..k tonne of money” with other organisations.

“It will be distributed out,” Barber­ posted on Instagram

“I’m going to make sure that Victoria gets some, that South Australia gets some, also the ­families of people who have died in these fires.” Barber did not ­respond to request­s for comment from The Australian, but her spokesperson confirmed she was in “talks with the RFS”.

Swinburne University’s Krystian Seibert, an expert on philanthropic law, said the donations to Barber’s appeal were being held by PayPal’s Giving Fund Australi­a.

He said while the money had yet to be transferred to the RFS it was possible Paypal could ­negotiate with the RFS and Barber over whether some of the funds could be diverted to other organisations. “I think it would be advisable for the PayPal Giving Fund directors, Ms Barber and the RFS to sit down and have a conversation about how these funds are going to be used to honour the wishes of the donors and to be very open and transparent about that, because the last thing we want to see is this leading to a crisis of trust among Australians who are donating to charity,” Mr Seibert said

He said he believed donors would respect the goodwill of the RFS if it chose to direct the Paypal Giving Fund to distribute some of the donation money to other frontline organisations such as the Victorian Country Fire Authority and the Red Cross.

“The law in this area can be quite complicated, but what’s certain is that everybody wants the donations to go where they’re needed,’’ he said.