Paul,

I'm not seeking to defend Hillsong. But that's your schtick isn't it. If I don't fully agree with your ravings then I must fully disagree. Its black and white in Paul-land, no grey allowed. No grey even recognised let alone understood.

There may be facts to support the Wilkie claims and if there are then let them stand. But clearly Wilkie himself isn't convinced of that or else he wouldn't hide behind parliamentary privilege.

These accusations have been made known to the ATO as well as the documentation. And they've not acted on them. Either they are incompetent -well it is the public service so that's always a likelihood - or they've looked at the information and decided there's no there there. Ditto ASIC.

So unlike Paul et al, I'll wait to see the actual evidence and then make my own judgements rather than rely on a partisan who hasn't even got the courage of his 'convictions'.

OTOH, the most disturbing part of this whole thing is the way the Hillsong followers were forced to hand over all these donations at gun point

Paul,
I asked:
: Have you any actual evidence it's not technically a church?
I take the lack of an answer in your response to be a NO.

'Tis common for churches to run registered charities. There's nothing wrong with that. It is not evidence of misspending money, let alone doing anything illegal. But see below:

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mhaze,
There's a hug difference between compliance with current legal requirements and not wasting money. I don't know whether Hillsong has been misspending money or not, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it had: 'Tis easy for the rich to lose sight of the need to spend money efficiently, accountably and fairly.
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Indy,
> There are no costs to cover in having faith !

Having faith has never been the only thing churches do.
And genuine faith compels people to action, which can be very costly.

"I don't know whether Hillsong has been misspending money or not,"

Nor do I. But given that Wilkie isn't convinced enough of the evidence to release it outside parliamentary privilege and given that the ATO and ASIC have had the same 'evidence' for some time and not acted, one wonders how good the evidence is.

I know in certain circles any accusation against any group even vaguely Christian is immediately accepted as fact. But that rarely leads to the truth. It does however lead to innocent people spending 404 days in prison.

Hi Aden,

I gave you an answer, what do you want? Their financial records online, a copy of their ASIC registration. Checking with ACNC you will find all of Hillsong operations, even the Hillsong Church, along with 9 other Hillsong entities are ALL registered charities. There is no "Church" other than by name only. The other mob who operate the same way is 'Scientology'.

My wife's local Church (Anglican) also has a registered charity, but it operates independently from the church stricture. What's involved in operating a charity is strictly controlled by government, there's a whole raft of legislation that must be followed, and consequences if you don't. Our local charity operates with an ABN and has a registered name to conduct business operations under.

BTW There is much in Hansard to read on the subject of Hillsong.

Wilkie looking into Hillsong is like Judas looking into the crucifixion !

OR making Indyvidual the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs.

I find Andrew Wilkie a very good MP, a moderate who considers the issues well, and is NOT prone to running off at the mouth at the drop of a hat. As Hillsong is conservative, a friend of the likes of Scott Morrison there are those on the Forum who will defend their wrong doing.

One might ask, why all the charity business, one could just operate as a "church" and pay no tax and pocket the dosh. The answer is simple GOVERNMENT GRANTS, PRIVATE DONATIONS/GIFTS that receive a tax write off for donating to charities.

Hillsong has received government grants big time. During the Morrison years $43 million in government contracts can be traced back to Leigh Coleman, formerly of Hillsong whilst being a registered charity set up to address Indigenous unemployment and disadvantage. One of Hillsong's charities spent $315,000 from a federal government grant to employ seven people for a microcredit program in Sydney that gave just six Indigenous people a small loan. The total grant for the microcredit program was $965,421. One might ask where is the other $650,000?