Israel Folau thanks donors to Australian Christian Lobby’s fundraising campaign

Israel Folau thanks donors to the ACL fundraising campaign as the tally hits $1.8m.

Sacked Wallaby Israel Folau. Picture: Getty Images

Israel Folau has thanked donors to the Australian Christian Lobby fundraising campaign as the tally hits $1.75 million.

“I am humbled by the support I have received from so many of you since Rugby Australia terminated my employment contract after I shared a religious message on social media,’’ Folau said in an Instagram post.

“To those who have criticised me, I bear no ill will towards you. You have every right to express your own beliefs and opinions.

“To the thousands of you who donated to my GoFundMe campaign, I am forever grateful. GoFundMe’s decision to shut down my campaign proves the importance of my case; whether you share my faith or believe in my right to express it, attempts to sanction what we believe is a threat to all Australians.

“I am incredibly thankful for the Australian Christian Lobby, which has not only come to my defence in the media, but generously established a website to receive donations on my behalf. For those not in a position to donate, your support and prayers will make more of a difference than anything else. God bless!’’

His post comes as the ACL defended itself against a possible probe by the Australian charity watchdog, with Managing Director Martin Iles insisting he is confident there is “no breach” of charity laws in the ACL’s fundraising efforts for Israel Folau’s legal case.

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission said today they had received multiple requests to investigate the ACL’s decision to support Folau’s fundraising and the watchdog “expected all registered charities to meet their obligations under the ACNC Act and the Governance Standards”.

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“The ACNC can investigate concerns that a charity has breached the ACNC Act or the Governance Standards,” the ACNC said in a statement. “This may include not pursuing its charitable purpose, not operating in a not-for-profit manner, or providing private benefits to members.”

However Mr Iles told The Australian he “trusts the calculations” of Folau’s legal team and said over the next 24 hours he would be in discussions with them about what the excess funds will be put towards.

“The agreement with Folau’s legal team was for ACL to raise $1.5 million and then discuss in detail how further funds will be applied,” Mr Iles said.

“There is no breach of our charitable purposes which is to advocate for the advancement of the Christian religion and to advocate for changes in public policy and law.”

As of 9.30 this morning — 24 hours after setting up its fundraising page — the ACL had raised nearly $1.7 million for Folau, $1 million more than GoFundMe raised in four days.

Mr Iles said the same quiet Aussies that delivered Morrison victory in the election are speaking again, “not through the ballot box but through their wallets.”

‘Don’t wash your hands’

Earlier, Mr Iles warned Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese “cannot wash their hands’’ of Israel Folau’s case “like Pontius Pilate”.

It comes as the ACL fundraising campaign, which has raised $1.6 million, faces a probe by the charity watchdog for possibly breaching the act governing charitable organisations, and former human rights commissioner Gillian Triggs, backed Folau’s right to freedom of speech and declared Rugby Australia should not have sacked him.

The appeal hosted by ACL has now amassed more than Folau’s GoFundMe campaign raised in four days, before the fundraising website shut it down on Monday. The ACL relaunched the campaign for the star rugby back on its own website at 12.01am on Tuesday and donations flowed in at a rate of nearly $1000 per minute. By 6.30am today, the tally was $1.59m of its $3m target.

The ACL’s managing director, Martyn Iles, called on political leaders to protect religious freedoms in a video released by ACL overnight.

Mr Iles said many quiet Australians would be looking to parliament when it returns next week to see how the nation’s leaders will address concerns of religious freedoms.

“It’s time for our politicians to lead. It’s time for Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese to outline in detail how they will protect people of faith and the important principles of freedoms that are raised by Israel’s case,” he said.

“Thousands and thousands of quiet Australians have donated generously to Folau’s legal defence fund and many of them are the same quiet Australians who stood up for the religious freedom at the federal election only a month ago,” he said.

Mr Iles said Folau’s treatment “speaks volumes” of the religious freedom challenges in society and said Australian politicians cannot “wash their hands like Pontius Pilate when it came to the issue of religious freedoms.

He said the “public lynching” of Folau was unacceptable in a “supposedly modern, tolerant and ethnically and religiously diverse country” like Australia

“ACL along with millions of quiet Australians will be looking to Canberra in the coming weeks for action on religious freedom

“Israel’s case is our case. Israel’s case is every Australian’s case,” he said.

Gillian Triggs.

Ms Triggs said Folau was entitled to his religious views.

“I don’t think employers should have that power [to sack someone] and I don’t think that one should lose one’s job for putting a view in good faith that you have put, particularly as a reflection that could be a religious view,’’ she told the ABC.

“It is a very wide view. It encompasses a lot of us — we’re all going to go to hell. I think it is really foolish and disproportionate to prevent him from preaching something that I think he probably believes quite deeply as a matter of religious expression.”

Religious leaders have rallied ­behind Folau as financial support for the former Wallaby’s legal battle continues to pour in.

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, said the virulent attacks levelled at Folau for his religious beliefs “smacks of a new and ugly Australia where dissent from narrow cultural views is not tolerated”.

“The clear support of ordinary Christians has been ignored, marginalised and silenced,” Archbishop Davies said. “Many commentators (and many politicians) have failed to understand the precious nature of conscience and belief and its power in the lives of ordinary Australians. Loud, intolerant voices swamp the quiet faith of many.”

The moderator of the NSW Presbyterian Church, Kamal ­Weerakoon, warned the “relentless attacks” on Folau by politicians, big business and the media were driving “dissent underground’ and “making people angry that they were being disrespected”.

“People in my congregation are frightened at what has happened to him,” Mr Weerakoon told The Australian.

“They worry about what will happen if they post ‘Merry Christmas, Jesus came for you’ on their Facebook. Are they going to lose their job?”

The comments came a day after the US site GoFundMe pulled the plug on Folau’s funding pitch, claiming his homophobic views were a “violation” of the company’s values.

According to the ACL, the decision by GoFundMe had proved an accidental PR triumph for Folau — dramatically expanding his support base as a rush of outraged donors flocked to the new fundraising site yesterday.

The ACL, which is handling the new legal war chest for Folau, said the swell of donors in the first 12 hours had been so “phenomenal” the fund was expected to reach up to $1.5m by this morning — double the amount raised on GoFundMe in four days.

While the goal on the GoFundMe site was to gather a $3m war chest, employment lawyers told The Australian the cost of funding Folau’s contract dispute in the Federal Court would have generally cost between $400,000 and $500,000. At worst, costs could reach $1.5m if Folau lost his case and fought his matter in the High Court.

That prompted the ACL to ­insist that, once the fund reaches $1.5m, there should be a full review of likely legal fees in a bid to ensure no excess donations to the fund were accepted.

The president of the Law Council of Australia, Arthur Moses, said last night that, given the legal battle was “in essence a contract dispute, at first blush the $3m seems rather excessive”.

He also said the courts and the justice system had yet to grapple with the “ethical issues” raised by crowd-funded litigation.

“Mr Folau has the right to bring whatever case he is properly ­advised to bring,” Mr Moses said.

“The concern is to ensure nothing is said that induces the public to donate money based on a misunderstanding of what the case is about or what it will achieve.”

Mr Iles this morning conceded the excess money raised to fund Folau’s legal case will be distributed to “causes that are consistent with the intentions” of the donors.

“I will be talking to them (Folau’s legal team) now that we have passed the $1.5 million mark just to see that every dollar is going to be spent really well and people’s intentions will be honoured,” he said on Nine’s Today.

“The excess money will be distributed in a way that is consistent with the intentions of the donors,” he said.

When pressed by host Deb Knight, Mr Iles said he wasn’t able to go into the details of what causes the money would go towards at this stage but confirmed it would “absolutely not” go to the ACL.

“It’s going into trust, it can’t actually be used for any other reason,” he said.

“It’s all under this language of inclusion, but not so inclusive that they can include someone with beliefs they disagree with.” @MartynLloydIles from the @ACLobby on the Israel Folau saga and promises the $1.5 million will “absolutely not” be used for personal use. #9Today pic.twitter.com/coUD95G0oF

— The Today Show (@TheTodayShow) June 25, 2019

Prominent Labor left frontbencher and same-sex marriage supporter Stephen Jones also came to Folau’s aid yesterday, slamming the US site and Rugby Australia for “shunning” Folau for his ­religious beliefs.

Mr Jones, MP for the NSW federal seat of Whitlam, said that, while he didn’t support Folau’s stance on homosexuality, the footballer’s religious views are “what multiculturalism looks like”.

“It is not just about having a wide variety of interesting food and interesting dances and costumes, actually it is more than that. It is about people’s cultures and faiths and all of that interacting with ours,” he said.

Mr Jones, who described himself as a “proud Labor lefty” and one of the biggest supporters of same-sex marriage, called for a more “civil, mature, honest debate” rather than just “shutting down” Folau because he “offended … some of our deeply held views”.

Former president of the Australian Human Rights Commission Gillian Triggs said Folau was entitled to his religious views.

“It’s foolish and disproportionate to prevent him from preaching something that he believes,” she told the ABC yesterday.

One source from the Folau camp told The Australian the former Wallaby was feeling “incredibly humbled and grateful” for the outpouring of support: “Not just from those who share his beliefs but from those Australians who want to stand with him on the right to freedom of religion.”

Mr Isles said Folau was “feeling the weight” of being the target of growing “hostility from activists who will not give up”.

But he said Folau’s situation had also unleashed the long suppressed frustration and distress of many Australian Christians, who found themselves increasingly targeted for their faith, especially in the workplace.

Mr Isles said in the past two years the ACL had been involved in more than 60 legal disputes in which Christian workers had faced discrimination, including being subjected to suspicion and unfair sackings because their fellow workers were uncomfortable with their religious beliefs.

He said doctors, teachers and counsellors were especially vulnerable to discrimination because of their religious beliefs.