Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move Greens amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 3646 together:

(1) Clause 2, Page 2 (at the end of the table), add:

(2) Page 18 (after line 9), at the end of the Bill, add:

Schedule 8 — Loss of deductible gift recipient status for supporting illegal occupation

Income Tax Assessment Act 1997

1 At the end of subsection 30-125(1)

Add:

Note: However, the entity is not entitled to be endorsed if the entity has supported an illegal occupation (see section 30-150).

2 At the end of subsection 30-125(2)

Add:

Note: However, the entity is not entitled to be endorsed if the entity has supported an illegal occupation (see section 30-150).

3 After section 30-130

Insert:

30-150 No entitlement to endorsement for entities supporting illegal occupation

(1) An entity is not entitled to be endorsed as:

(a) a *deductible gift recipient (despite subsection 30-125(1)); or

(b) a *deductible gift recipient for the operation of a fund, authority or institution (despite subsection 30-125(2));

if the entity has supported an *illegal occupation.

(2) The *Foreign Affairs Minister may, by legislative instrument, make a declaration specifying an occupation of the whole or part of a territory as an illegal occupation.

Application in relation to non-legal persons

(3) An entity that is:

(a) a partnership; or

(b) a trust; or

(c) an unincorporated body or association;

is taken to have supported an *illegal occupation if an accountable person for the entity has supported the illegal occupation in the person's capacity as an accountable person for the entity.

Definitions

(4) For the purposes of this section, an accountable person for an entity is:

(a) in the case of a partnership—a person who is a partner in the partnership; or

(b) in the case of a trust—a person who is a trustee of the trust; or

(c) in the case of an unincorporated body or association—a person who is a member of the governing body or committee of management (however described) of the unincorporated body or association.

(5) For the purposes of this section, an entity has supported an *illegal occupation if the entity has in any way (whether directly or indirectly) advocated, prepared, planned, assisted in, financed, fostered, supported (within the ordinary meaning of that expression), participated in or contributed to the establishment, maintenance or expansion of the illegal occupation.

4 Subsection 995-1(1)

Insert:

illegal occupation: see subsection 30-150(2).

5 Application of amendments

Section 30-150 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, as inserted by this Schedule, applies in relation to entities that have supported (within the meaning of that section) an illegal occupation after the commencement of this item, whether:

(a) that support began before or after that commencement; or

(b) the entity is endorsed, or proposed to be endorsed, before or after that commencement.

These amendments are crucial. They are a crucial and necessary change to DGR status that ensures that no organisations that support illegal occupations overseas receive tax subsidies here in this country. Recent investigations by Michael West Media revealed that a number of so-called charities operating in Australia are contributing to settlement projects and the illegal occupation of the West Bank by Israel. All these charities enjoy DGR status, allowing them to receive tax-deductible donations. The fact that people are sending money to support the war crimes of the Israeli military and to expand illegal violent settlements in the West Bank is bad enough—it is very bad—but that Australian taxpayers are subsidising these settlements and this violence is completely outrageous and unacceptable.

The West Bank is recognised by the Albanese government as illegally occupied. The State of Palestine, which includes the West Bank, is now formally recognised by the Albanese government, and yet Australian charities are subsidising the illegal occupation of Palestine, and the Labor government says, 'Well, you can also get a tax deduction for that illegal settlement.' These amendments would ban that once and for all. Supporting them should be not just a question of morality but of plain common sense. These amendments would strip an entity of DGR status if the entity has in any way, whether directly or indirectly, advocated, prepared, planned, assisted in, financed, fostered, supported, participated or contributed to the establishment, maintenance and expansion of an illegal occupation.

It's not just about land theft and occupation. Since October 2023, the IDF and Israeli settlers have murdered over 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced from their homes, and settlers have undertaken targeted destruction of olive groves and violence during the annual olive harvest to destroy any economic or agricultural opportunities for Palestinians in the West Bank. This is yet another example, and there are just too many now to count, of the complicity of this Labor government in Israel's genocide and apartheid and illegal settlement, even though it says it's against it. By maintaining DGR status for these organisations, the government is giving a very clear message that this violence is okay, and we are subsidising this violence. It's saying that these murders are okay, and we are subsidising these murders. It's saying that this ethnic cleansing is okay, and we are subsidising this ethnic cleansing. Supporting these heinous crimes deserves investigation, not tax deductions.

The International Court of Justice, in 2024, called on all party states such as Australia to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Despite recognising the illegality of Israel settlements in West Bank, in defiance of the international court, the Albanese government continues to allow, and even reward, charities who are providing for and profiting off these heinous crimes, these illegal settlements, under the DGR scheme.

The Albanese government has got its priorities all mixed up, all upside down. It says no to giving DGR status to life-saving animal welfare charities, but a big yes to subsidising charities supporting illegal occupations. Australian charities should not be supporting ethnic cleansing, apartheid, violence and occupation, and they certainly should not be receiving a tax benefit for it—and, honestly, that should not even have to be said. The Labor government clearly wants to keep its head in the sand, to keep being embroiled in complicity in genocide and apartheid, and looks the other way. This is just another example of governments complicity in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. It is two-faced and it is shameful for the government to say it supports a Palestinian state while effectively subsidising its destruction. Today is an opportunity for you to show, at a very basic level, that you will not be subsidising these violent, illegal settlements. I commend the amendment to the Senate.