Getup as slippery are their political mates.

GetUp charity claims exposed by not-for-profit links

• 1:00AM August 20, 2019
• 263 Comments

Senior officials at GetUp — which claims “we don’t have or want charity status” — set up a not-for-profit company that worked out of the offices of the left-wing activist group.

The Australian can reveal GetUp national director Paul Oosting and his senior staff were involved in the creation of Commons Library Limited, which is registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.

The registered charity, which operates a “public library”, is endorsed for “GST concession and income tax exemption” and as a “deductible gift recipient”.

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Business records show the company was initially known as GetUp Commons Limited, and operated under that name for almost a year until December 2015.

Mr Oosting, Darren Loasby, now deputy national director, and Henrietta Smith, GetUp’s elections director, were initial directors of the charitable organisation, with other GetUp personnel, including former legal and governance director Isabelle Reinecke also sitting on the Commons Library board.

Despite GetUp yesterday distancing itself from the charity, Commons Library Limited listed its former addresses as the same locations as GetUp’s offices in Sydney and Melbourne.

Current director Benjamin Brandzel, who previously acted as chair of the charity and worked on media campaigns and fundraising for former US president Barack Obama’s Organising for America initiative, was a founding board member and former senior campaigner at Avaaz.org.

According to Australian Electoral Commission documents, New York-based Avaaz made three donations to GetUp between 2013-14 and 2017-18, totalling more than $268,000.

Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters Zed Seselja said yesterday the activist group needed to “come clean”.

“Australians have the right to expect charities act with integrity and transparency. We’ve seen GetUp’s questionable tactics in the past, and I have serious concerns on the implications of these revelations,” Senator Seselja said.

“GetUp need to explain these close links, and come clean on whether they are using money donated to charities to pay for their political campaigns on behalf of Labor and the Greens.”