New electoral laws could wipe us out: GetUp!

GetUp! fears proposed electoral law changes would choke its revenue stream and impose an administrative burden.

Paul Oosting and Alice Drury from GetUp! in Canberra yesterday.Picture: Kym Smith

GetUp! has warned it would be wiped out by new electoral laws, as the nation’s charity sector conceded “thousands” of its members were violating current rules by failing to report political spending.

GetUp! national director Paul Oosting told a parliamentary committee that a proposed bill ­requiring donors to provide statutory declarations when donating more than $250 a year would choke the organisation’s revenue stream and impose an unmanageable administrative burden.

“It would simply wipe out ­organisations like GetUp!,” Mr Oosting told the joint standing committee on electoral matters, which is examining the Turnbull government’s proposed crackdown on foreign donations.

Liberal committee member Ben Morton said the wording in the bill requiring a statutory declaration was ambiguous, and the committee might recommend the provision be dropped.

GetUp! also declared that $126,343 it received from its German counterpart, Campact, was not a donation but was being held in trust. “This isn’t income to GetUp! that GetUp! has any ­access to or can spend,” GetUp!’s legal director Alice Drury said.

A further $56,900 from Campact was given to GetUp! for its Great Barrier Reef campaign, and was not political spending, the group said.

Despite actively campaigning against hard-right MPs during the 2016 election, the left-wing activist group maintained it could not be considered an “associated ­entity” of any party, as it would be under the bill.

Charity and philanthropic bodies also attacked the legislation, saying it would have a “chilling” effect on society, restricting involvement in public ­debate. The committee heard many charities were already violating electoral laws by failing to disclose political expenditure to the Australian Electoral Commission. Community Council for Australia chief executive David Crosbie said most charities were unaware of current rules that classified political expenditure as “the public expression of views on an issue in an election by any means”. “I can’t think of a single charity I work with that wouldn’t be a political campaigner,” he said. “I think there are thousands of charities not complying.”

Philanthropy Australia’s Krystian Seibert said his organisation, which represented 800 trusts and foundations, had never sought ­advice about its disclosure obligations under current electoral laws.