Family First will fight to revoke the special taxpayer-funded free ride handed to the radical LGBTIQA+ political lobby Equality Australia last week.
Special legislation passed by Labor and the Greens gives the group which advocates for harmful gender treatments to be performed on children deductible gift recipient status, a tax break on donations no available to other political lobby groups.
Family First National Director and NSW Legislative Council candidate Lyle Shelton said the Albanese Government’s decision to legislate Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status for Equality Australia—despite repeated rejections by the charities regulator and the courts—was an extraordinary abuse of power.
“Equality Australia is not a charity. It is a political lobby group, and the courts have already said so,” Mr Shelton said.
“Yet Labor has rammed through a special law to give it privileged tax status—something denied to other advocacy organisations—effectively putting the taxpayer behind its fundraising machine.”
Mr Shelton said Family First would campaign to overturn the law and restore integrity to Australia’s charitable system.
“Family First will not stand by while Australians are forced to subsidise an organisation that lobbies for policies deeply harmful to children, families and freedom.”
Mr Shelton said Equality Australia had been at the forefront of pushing radical gender ideology, including support for:
- the use of puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones on gender-confused children;
- referral pathways toward irreversible surgeries, including double mastectomies;
- the erosion of parents’ rights and the ability of Christian schools to employ staff who uphold their ethos; and
- the dismantling of sex-based rights, putting the safety, privacy and dignity of women and girls at risk.
“An organisation advocating for the chemical and surgical medicalisation of children, the erosion of religious freedom, and the removal of women’s protections should not be receiving charitable status—let alone a special taxpayer-funded advantage,” Mr Shelton said.
Mr Shelton renewed Family First’s call for the Governor-General Sam Mostyn to resign her co-patronage of Equality Australia.
Her fellow patron is the radical LGBTIQA+ drag queen Shane Jenek, whose pornographic Facebook page had to be de-linked from the ABC’s Kids’ Community Facebook Page.
“The office of Governor-General must be above politics. Co-patronage with a dangerous role model for children of a deeply controversial lobby group undermines public confidence in that neutrality.”
Mr Shelton warned that the broader implications of the government’s decision were profound.
“There will be no real religious freedom, no free speech, and no meaningful protection for children while governments continue to elevate and fund activist organisations like Equality Australia.
“This is about whether Australia remains a nation where parents can raise their children according to their values, where women’s rights are respected, and where citizens are free to speak without fear.”
Mr Shelton said Family First would take the issue to the next election.
“A vote for Family First is a vote to stop taxpayer-funded activism and restore common sense.
“We will fight to repeal this law, defund radical lobby groups, and put families—not ideologues—back at the centre of public policy.”
Contact details:
