The Board's decision was made public in August. It was the second time it has tried to deregister the group.

Board chairman Roger Holmes Miller said the Board considered that Family First has a purpose to promote its own particular views about marriage and the traditional family. That cannot be determined to be for the public benefit in a way previously accepted as charitable."

In a media release on 26 September, Family First announced it has lodged an appeal in Wellington's High Court to fight this deregistration.

In 2013, the Board made the decision to remove Family First from the Charities Register because it did not advance exclusively charitable purposes.

Family First appealed that decision to the High Court.

In 2015, Justice David Collins directed the Board to reconsider its decision in light of the 2014 Supreme Court Greenpeace judgment

In 2010, Greenpeace took the Charities Commission to the High Court to challenge the dismissal of its application for charity status. The court found its activities were more political than educational, and therefore not charitable.

But that decision was overturned by the Court of Appeal in November 2012, allowing Greenpeace to apply for re-registration.

Collins told the Charities Registration Board - "...Members of the Board may personally disagree with the views of Family First, but at the same time recognise there is a legitimate analogy between its role and those organisations that have been recognised as charities."

Read Family First media release

Source

• Stuff
• Newshub
• New Zealand Herald
• Image: Stuff.co.nz

The group first heard of another move to of deregister it through a report in the New Zealand Herald.

When asked by Family First, the Charities Registration Board said it would neither confirm nor deny the report.

The New Zealand Herald also reported that a Department of Internal Affairs spokesperson said the department couldn't confirm or deny any decision to deregister before speaking with Family First.

"We can't make any comment while this process is underway but a final decision will be made by the independent Charities Registration Board."

The spokesperson said Family First would remain a registered charity while any court action was underway.

"The Charities Board may hope that Family First will fold its tent and quietly retreat. We won't be," said McCoskrie.

The group was first notified by the Charities Registration Board in 2013 that its charitable status was in danger.

That was because the group advocated a controversial point of view, that was seen as lobbying for a political purpose.

The decision was challenged in court, and in 2015 the High Court ordered the Board to reconsider its decision.

The High Court decision in 2015 said "….Members of the Charities Board may personally disagree with the views of Family First, but at the same time recognise there is a legitimate analogy between its role and those organisations that have been recognised as charities."

McCoskrie said Family First has also passed two ‘audits' - one as recently as 2010. - and has made no change to the nature of their operations over the eleven years of its existence.

Official documents received by Family First NZ show that just one complaint was made against Family First and was lodged on the day that the organisation presented a petition to Parliament on behalf of almost 50,000 New Zealanders calling on politicians to reject the bill to redefine marriage.

Source

• nzherald.co.nz
• familyfirst.org.nz
• Image: teara.govt.nz

On 30 June Justice Collins ruled that Family First New Zealand's advocacy of the traditional family makes it similar to "organisations that have advocated for the ‘mental and moral improvement' of society" - that is, one of the classic types of charitable activity.

Family First was granted charitable status by the then Charities Commission in May 2007.

It was served a notice of deregistration by the Charities Board, which replaced the commission during the run-up to the legalisation of same-sex marriage in April 2013.

The Charities Board confirmed its decision to deregister Family First two days before the gay marriage law was passed.

Family First believes the juxtaposition of events makes it clear that their public campaign to preserve traditional marriage was the deciding factor in the Board's decision.

The decision from the High Court allows an appeal by Family First New Zealand against its deregistration, and orders the Charities Board to reconsider its move against the group.

It follows a similar appeal won by Greenpeace NZ last August after the Charities Board ruled its purposes, like those of the family advocates, primarily "political" rather than "charitable".

However, a majority of the Supreme Court in the Greenpeace case ruled that an organisation with charitable purposes could also have political purposes, depending on the objectives being advocated and the means used to promote those objectives.

Family First New Zealand's national director Bob McCoskrie says, "This decision is a victory for the many charitable groups - both registered, deregistered and wanting to be registered - who advocate for their causes, beliefs, and supporters and often have to engage in political activity, not always through choice but through necessity."

"It is a victory for open robust debate on issues that affect families."

Source

• mercatornet.com
• Image: familyfirst.org.nz

A recent inspection of Annual Returns held by the Charities Register found more than 2,000 registered charities had not filed their Annual Returns and financial information for two years or more.

"This clean-up of the Charities Register will provide the public with greater confidence that the 26,866 registered charities in New Zealand are fulfilling their legal obligations to report their financial information," says Goodhew.

The inspection has led to 1,010 charities being deregistered, including 106 that voluntarily deregistered, and 904 that failed to respond to the requests to file their overdue Returns.

The 1,118 charities who have responded have now lodged their overdue Annual Returns, all of which are available for the public to view online. Continue reading

The Charities Registration Board had sought to deregister Family First as a charity, in the wake of the recent same-sex marriage debate.

Family First appealed to the High Court, but a hearing has been on hold until a decision on the Greenpeace case.

Family First NZ director Bob McCoskrie said part of the problem has been the subjective interpretation of the definition of a charity.

"But many groups involved in public issues will have a political involvement when politicians are changing laws and introducing policy that affects the supporters and focus of the charity concerned.

"It is right that charities should be able to speak in to the debates."

Family First has instructed their lawyers to immediately apply to the Charities Board to drop the deregistration action against Family First NZ, or to bring the hearing forward so the matter can be resolved immediately.

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