Archbishops to question PM over future of Catholic charity

Archbishops will raise concerns with the PM about an investigation into the activities of Catholic Education Melbourne.

Abbott has questioned the motive behind the investigation. Picture: AAP

Catholic archbishops from Australia’s three largest cities will raise concerns with the Prime Minister about a regulatory investigation into the political activities of the arm of the church which manages Melbourne’s Catholic schools.

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president and Brisbane Archbishop Mark Coleridge, Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher and the newly appointed Archbishop of Melbourne, Peter Comensoli, will raise the issue with Malcolm Turnbull amid uncertainty over funding for Catholic schools and ramifications from the royal commission into child sex abuse.

The meeting, scheduled for Thursday in Sydney, comes as the government defends the federal regulator, the Australian Charities and Not-for-Profits Commission chaired by former Labor MP Gary Johns, and its decision to review the charitable status of Catholic Education Melbourne.

The ACNC yesterday confirmed an exclusive report in The Weekend Australian revealing that Catholic Education Melbourne was being investigated for its political activities during the Batman by-election in which it commissioned robocalls and leaflets critical of federal government schools funding policy.

“We are undertaking this investigation because of the activities and statements made on behalf of this one charity during the recent by-election for the federal seat of Batman,’’ Mr Johns said. “The investigation is an inquiry about the activities and purposes of the charity. It has arisen from a concern that the charity may have a disqualifying purpose and therefore may not be entitled to be a registered charity.’’

The ACNC lists three “disqualifying purposes’’ which prohibit an organisation from being registered as a charity. These include “engaging in, or promoting, activities that are contrary to public policy’’ and “promoting or opposing a political party or candidate for political office’.’

If found to have a disqualifying purpose, Catholic Education Melbourne could lose its charitable status and be left unable to receive distributions from private and public ancillary funds.

Mr Johns said the ACNC was an independent regulator and had not been directed by government to investigate any specific charity. Its decision to investigate Catholic Education Melbourne and its executive director Stephen Elder was sharply rebuked by Opposition leader Bill Shorten. “I think this is a very disturbing and un-Australian trend that somehow if you are a critic or want to comment on the government of the day, that you then are subject to investigation,’’ Mr Shorten said. “If the government, or people are asserting that there is a rule which says that representatives of schools, representatives of the education sector, can no longer criticise cuts to school funding, that is a stupid rule and it needs to be changed.’’

Mr Shorten found an unlikely ally in Tony Abbott, who also questioned the ACNC probe. “In a country under the rule of law, being critical of a government policy should never be the catalyst for official investigation,’’ he said. “The charities commission should stop picking on the Catholic Church.’’

Mr Elder said he was shocked to receive a letter from ACNC detailing the investigation and warning he faced up to two years in jail if he failed to co-operate. “I thought we lived in a great democracy and that freedom of speech was permissible,’’ he told the Seven Network.

The minister responsible for the ACNC, Michael Sukkar, said the regulator was a statutory body responsible for ensuring registered charities met their obligations and that investigations were a “common feature’’ of its work.

“Compliance activities of the ACNC are wholly independent of government and it would be improper for comment on any specific investigation, including those raised publicly in recent days with respect to Catholic Education Melbourne,’’ he said.

The ACNC investigation will add to what was shaping as a significant meeting between church figures and Mr Turnbull over the contested issue of schools funding, the federal government’s redress scheme for victims of child sex abuse by clergy and state government legislation to compel priests who learn of child abuse in confessional to report offenders.