The federal charities regulator is investigating Hillsong over explosive allegations aired under parliamentary privilege that it engaged in money laundering and tax evasion, with claims the mega-church earned $80m more than it publicly declared.
Financial documents tabled in parliament by the independent MP Andrew Wilkie, obtained from a whistleblower, claim to show Hillsong used funds from the jobkeeper wage subsidy program to help fund the purchase of Melbourne’s Festival Hall, and that its founder, Brian Houston, used tithes from parishioners to pay for upgraded hotel quarantine accommodation when returning from overseas at the height of the Covid pandemic.
Hillsong has disputed the allegations, claiming many of Wilkie’s representations were false or out of context, and that it was engaging with regulators as part of an ongoing legal case. But the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) issued a rare public statement on Friday afternoon to announce it was probing the claims raised by Wilkie and the whistleblower.
“Although it was stated in parliament that the ACNC has not acted, I can confirm that we are investigating concerns raised about Hillsong Church charities,” said the commissioner, Sue Woodward. “Hillsong has stated publicly that it is fully cooperating with regulatory authorities.”
Wilkie alleged the leaked financial records and documents were provided to the Australian Taxation Office and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (Asic), and was critical they had not been acted on. Asic said it was a matter for the ACNC, while the ATO said it could not comment on the tax affairs of any individual or entity.
Woodward said it was “extremely rare” for the ACNC to comment on investigations, but issued a statement to “correct the record”. But she also added the ACNC had not received a whistleblower disclosure on the documents, noting the charities commission was not actually able to provide whistleblower protections.
“Anyone can raise a concern about a charity with the ACNC,” Woodward said. “No matter where a concern originates, we use a standard independent process to review its details and, if necessary, we conduct an investigation.”
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The assistant minister for charities, Andrew Leigh, said Wilkie “raised a number of serious issues, and I understand the ACNC will review the allegations and documents”.
The education minister, Jason Clare, said it was “the sort of thing that the tax office needs to take seriously”.
“If you are a member of the congregation and you’ve made donations to the church, then you’d be legitimately worried about where your money has gone here,” he said.
“It’s important that they’re investigated by the charities watchdog, but also by the tax office and Asic, and I think, if I’m right from reading the stories in the paper this morning, that this is before the court at the moment as well.”
Wilkie tabled thousands of pages of what he said were financial records and internal documents from Hillsong. The documents were tabled in 17 large ring-binder folders, presenting challenges for the parliament’s administrative staff charged with preserving those records.
Usually, tabled documents are available online soon after being presented. As of Friday, only a small number of documents had been able to be scanned and made available online.
Further to Wilkie’s claims in the parliament that members of the Houston family engaged in lavish spending of church money on private jet trips, holidays, luxury watches, designer clothes and cash gifts, the whistleblower’s allegations – seen by Guardian Australia – also include claims about Hillsong’s activities during the early stages of the Covid pandemic.
In Wilkie’s speech, he alleged Hillsong made a $15.7m loan to its community venues company to buy Melbourne’s Festival Hall venue.
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The whistleblower wrote in a statement alongside the alleged leaked documents that “it appears that JobKeeper funds from the Australian Government were used by Hillsong to fund the purchase of Festival Hall”.
That allegation refers to a purported email in August 2020 from Hillsong’s treasurer to other financial executives at the church, regarding Festival Hall. The email purports to show the treasurer noting the purchase would be settled in October of that year, saying the church “will be drawing on the debt for around $7-$9m – as we won’t have received all the job keeper funds by October”.
The whistleblower claims Hillsong engaged in “financial misrepresentation for the purpose of receiving JobKeeper grants”.
The whistleblower also claims when Brian and Bobbie Houston returned to Australia from the US in 2020, and entered mandatory hotel quarantine, “it was the tithes income from the Hillsong congregation that paid for their upgrade at a cost of $5,389 in addition to the mandatory government quarantine fee of $4,016”.
Guardian Australia contacted Hillsong for comment on the Festival Hall and quarantine allegations.
On Thursday, Hillsong disputed Wilkie’s allegations, claiming many were false or out of context, and that it was engaging with regulators as part of an ongoing legal case.
“Hillsong Church has been open and transparent with our congregation about past governance failures, and over the past twelve months we have engaged independent, professional assistance to overhaul our governance and accountability procedures,” it said in a statement.
Hillsong said it was “a different church now than we were twelve months ago” and pushed back on many of Wilkie’s claims.
“The claims made in Federal Parliament by Mr Andrew Wilkie are out of context and relate to untested allegations made by an employee in an ongoing legal case,” the statement, distributed by a public relations company, read.
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2023-03-10 08:02:00Z
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