All sorts of dodgy types seem to exploit Australia’s charity regulations and reap tax-free windfalls. Whether it’s hardline leftists who repeatedly harass and bully Coalition politicians or “fauxborigines” who leverage their dubious “Indigenous” status and run what appear to be little better than shelf companies milking millions in grants.
Then there’s Scientology.
Several countries class Scientology as a “cult” or as a “business”. Australia, on the other hand, recognises it as a “religion”. Some people are unhappy with that.
Australia’s charity regulator has been called on to investigate Scientology amid concerns it is abusing its not-for-profit status.
An investigation by The Age and Sydney Morning Herald found the Church of Scientology had shifted tens of millions of dollars into Australia from offshore and is making significant tax-free profits.Australia, the investigation found, has become an international haven for the religion despite a sharp fall in its number of local adherents.
The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission [ACNC] makes clear that it is unable to comment on the “particular circumstances of a charity”. However, a spokeswoman stated that while charities may turn a profit, that profit must be used for “charitable purposes”.
“For example, a good reason to keep profits may be to save up for a new project, new infrastructure or a building, or to accumulate a reserve so it can continue to be sustainable,” the ACNC spokeswoman said.
“If an organisation continues to hold onto significant profits indefinitely, without using them for its charitable purpose, this may suggest that the organisation is not working solely towards its stated charitable purpose (and is not operating as a not-for-profit).”
Despite plunging membership, Scientology in Australia appears to be making a motza.
Figures for Australia show Scientology’s assets rose from $60.1 million in 2013 to $172.4 million in 2019, which included the building of its “Ideal Advanced Organisation” centre for the Asia Pacific in Chatswood, Sydney.
Figures for the UK, which are also lodged through the ACNC, similarly show increasing wealth, with nearly $150 million in assets, a near tripling since 2013. In total $326 million of Scientology assets are now owned through Australia.
Naturally, the Scientologists are adamant that it’s totally a charitable organisation. Even if they won’t explain how an organisation which has a miniscule – and sharply declining – membership is raking in tens of millions.
Church of Scientology International spokeswoman Karin Pouw[…]said Scientology “is in the midst of an explosive expansion in Australia, ongoing since 2007? with new facilities in Melbourne, Sydney and Perth. She did not answer a question on whether she agreed with the 2016 census data which reported Scientology had fewer than 1700 followers – down by a third in a decade.
The Age
Maybe I’m in the wrong game. As Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard is reliably quoted as saying, in 1948, “Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion”.
Anyone care to hear the good word of Curmudgeonism?
I don’t know what it is, but I’ll think of something shortly. I want my million, too.
Please share this article so that others can discover The BFD