Not-For-Profit Newsletter – September 2015
Published on September 22, 2015 by Josephine Heesh , Julia Harrison and Robert Algie
Welcome to the September Not-For-Profit Newsletter.
In this edition, we report on:
- The Overseas Aid Gift Deduction Scheme Review by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade;
- The Goddard Enquiry into historical child sexual abuse and its extension to England and Wales;
- Part 6 of the Commonwealth Border Force Act and what it means for potential whistleblowers;
- The importance of Sections 5M and 5N of the Civil Liability Act as protections for those facilitating recreational activities;
- The cake controversy at Ashers Bakery – the case of discrimination under the European Convention of Human Rights.
We hope you enjoy the reading in this issue of the Not-For-Profit Newsletter.
Please contact us if you have any queries.
The Carroll & O’Dea Not-for-profit Law Team
Overseas Aid Gift Deduction Scheme: Review
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is currently reviewing the Overseas Aid Gift Deduction Scheme Guidelines and Processes. It has taken written submissions and held round table discussions in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
Findings and Summary of Findings can be found at this link.
Feedback so far from many non government organisations working to improve life for people living in third world countries is that they find the regime imposed on them onerous and ineffective.
Author: Josephine Heesh
The Goddard Inquiry: the scope of inquiry into historical child sexual abuse extends to England and Wales
In July 2015, the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse was officially opened for England and Wales. Established by the British Home Secretary, the Inquiry has been given the broad remit to investigate child sexual abuse matters of the past, and to take stock of child protection procedures as a means of informing future child protection practice. It is an Inquiry which closely parallels the objectives of Australia’s Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The Inquiry is now in the process of encouraging the many unreported victims of historical child sexual abuse to come forward and relate their experiences to the Inquiry’s panel, which plans to commence its private sessions in October 2015. The Inquiry’s public hearings, which are to commence in 2016, will concentrate on investigating:
- individuals who have failed to prevent child sexual abuse within institutions, as well as;
- specific institutions that have exhibited systemic failure in their duty of care to children.
Authors: Julia Harrison & Martin Slattery
All quiet on the Border Force Front? What Part 6 of the new Border Force Act means for speaking out by immigration and border officials.
On 1 July 2015, the Australian Border Force Act 2015 (Cth) (“ABFA”) came into force met by protest and debate as well as an open letter to the Prime Minister, Immigration Minister and Opposition Leader signed by over 40 current and former medical and humanitarian detention centre workers on Nauru and Manus Island.
At the centre of the controversy is Part 6 of ABFA which imposes strenuous controls on disclosure of “protected information” obtained by persons working for (or having worked for) the Department of Immigration and Border Protection including the Australian Border Force (ABF) and the imposition of criminal sanctions of up to two years imprisonment in certain cases. Opponents claim these provisions are a harsh and forceful silencing of would-be whistleblowers, preventing them from speaking out about potential instances of malpractice, abuse or human rights violations within detention centres and other ABF operations. The government and proponents of ABFA however maintain that the laws do not fetter legitimate whistleblowers citing protections that would apply to them under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2013 (Cth) (PIDA).
This article considers the debate surrounding the new laws and what it means for those immigration and border officials who chose to speak out.
Author: Josephine Heesh & Kim Leontiev
All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy, goes the old adage. Recreation, that antidote to dullness, has become increasingly recognised as an integral part of many social and community events including school curricular and extracurricular activity and organised workplace and association events. But while it is the antidote to dullness, recreation also inherently brings with it a range of risks – some great, some small. When such risks materialise and questions turn to legal responsibility what concessions, if any, does the law recognise in relation to the risk in recreational activities?
Authors: Robert Algie & Kim Leontiev
Ashers Bakery, a Christian-run family business operated as a proprietary company in Northern Ireland, was recently ordered to pay damages after having lost a case in which a customer alleged the Bakery had discriminated against him on the basis of his sexual orientation and his political views in support of gay marriage.
Authors: Julia Harrison & Martin Slattery
