GetUp charity claims exposed by not-for-profit links

Senior GetUp officials set up a not-for-profit company that worked out of the offices of the activist group.

Paul Oosting from Get up.

Senior officials at GetUp — which claims “we don’t have or want charity status” — set up a not-for-profit company that worked out of the offices of the left-wing activist group.

The Australian can reveal GetUp national director Paul Oosting and his senior staff were involved in the creation of Commons Library Limited, which is registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.

The registered charity, which operates a “public library”, is endorsed for “GST concession and income tax exemption” and as a “deductible gift recipient”.

Business records show the company was initially known as GetUp Commons Limited, and operated under that name for almost a year until December 2015.

Mr Oosting, Darren Loasby, now deputy national director, and Henrietta Smith, GetUp’s elections director, were initial directors of the charitable organisation, with other GetUp personnel, including former legal and governance director Isabelle Reinecke also sitting on the Commons Library board.

spot the links getween getuup and others

Despite GetUp yesterday distancing itself from the charity, Commons Library Limited listed its former addresses as the same locations as GetUp’s offices in Sydney and Melbourne.

Current director Benjamin Brandzel, who previously acted as chair of the charity and worked on media campaigns and fundraising for former US president Barack Obama’s Organising for America initiative, was a founding board member and former senior campaigner at Avaaz.org.

According to Australian Electoral Commission documents, New York-based Avaaz made three donations to GetUp between 2013-14 and 2017-18, totalling more than $268,000.

Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters Zed Seselja said yesterday the activist group needed to “come clean”.

“Australians have the right to expect charities act with integrity and transparency. We’ve seen GetUp’s questionable tactics in the past, and I have serious concerns on the implications of these revelations,” Senator Seselja said.

“GetUp need to explain these close links, and come clean on whether they are using money ­donated to charities to pay for their political campaigns on behalf of Labor and the Greens.”

Mr Seselja’s comments follow Scott Morrison’s declaration on the weekend that the government would target GetUp

A GetUp spokesman distanced the group from the charity but confirmed that in 2014 GetUp had a “projects team look at new initiatives in consumer switching, legal advocacy and research”.

“From that, both the Grata Fund, a public interest litigation fund, and the Commons were established as separate legal entities. GetUp staff ceased being directors before they began operating. We were public about our role in these projects and organisations at the time,” the spokesman said. GetUp said it had not “worked with the Commons Library Limited for two years and we have no role in their operations”. “GetUp does not have any role in their operations and there is no funding provided and no other support. We last worked with the Commons in 2017 for a public training event.”

GetUp referred questions from The Australian in relation to a $7359 loan from a “sister organisation” listed by Commons Library to the charity. Commons Library, which according to ACNC financial records has more than $1 million in equity and spent $90,909 on event sponsorship in the last reporting period, said “in relation to documents from previous financial years we are unable to comment at this time and will take this question on notice”.

A Commons Library spokeswoman told The Australian that Mr Brandzel “indicated in June 2019 his intention to resign as a ­director” and said “to our knowledge” it had not received funding from Avaaz.

The charity confirmed it had previously hired a desk at the GetUp office. “Co-working is a common practice for the small civil society organisations and this set-up suited our limited financial means and solitary librarian.”

The spokeswoman said the Commons Library was an “independent company limited by guarantee, and has operated under this name since 2015” and that the former GetUp directors left the board “during or before 2017”.

“GetUp has no involvement in the operation of the Commons ­Library which includes not providing any funding or any other support to operate.”

In 2017, the Commons Library provided sponsorship and training materials at GetUp’s PowerUp conference for the “purpose of allowing and encouraging the public to use and enjoy its collection”.

The Commons Library spokeswoman said it engaged in “relevant conferences and gatherings in order to build the library collection”. She said objectives of the charity included advancing “education of the Australian public in the core areas of social and public policy and political structures by operating a public library”.