Setting the record straight
The Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) has held an authority to fundraise (granted by the Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGR) in NSW) since 1996.
Complaints from members of the organisation Stop the AVN, a group which has been trying for 3 years to force us to close our doors through harassment, bullying and vexatious complaints to government departments, the media and venues where we have hosted seminars, saw the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) pursue an ‘investigation’ of our activities and subsequently, the issuance of a public warning against our volunteer-run association.
As a result of this public warning – and ONLY as a result of this public warning - the OLGR revoked our authority to fundraise.
In February of this year, the AVN won its case in the NSW Supreme Court against the HCCC. The judgement said that both the investigation and the public warning were Ultra vires – in other words, illegal and outside of the HCCC’s jurisdiction.
Since the warning was no longer valid, the OLGR has seen fit to reinstate our authority to fundraise
Stop the AVN and their minions have claimed that the revocation was due to fraudulent activity by the AVN. This is not true and they have stated many other things about our organisation as a whole and myself personally, which are both untrue and defamatory.
OLGR Findings
In a statement dated 18 April, 2012, the OLGR said that, “The Office of Liquor, Gaming and Racing (OLGR) has received legal advice that the revocation of the Australian Vaccination Network’s charitable fundraising authority can not be sustained.”
During the OLGR’s audit process and in their report to the relevant Minister prior to the revocation, the OLGR noted that several administrative errors and breaches of the Act by the AVN had been discovered. In this Report, these breaches, which they identified as technical, were expressed to be of a minor nature, not uncommon in the not-for-profit sector and not sufficient in and of themselves to warrant cancellation of our fundraising authority.
In fact, it was hinted that, were the OLGR to rely upon these technical breaches to take such an action, it is probable that this might be interpreted as unfair since the OLGR admits in this same Report that many other organisations continued to fundraise despite similar or identical breaches.
Provided the AVN took steps to rectify these problems (which we immediately did), the errors found by the OLGR were not of a nature to require revocation of a fundraising authority.
In summary
When the OLGR took the step of revoking the AVN’s long-held authority to fundraise, they did so solely as a result of the HCCC’s illegal investigation and public warning.
Once the NSW Supreme Court deemed that the HCCC had acted outside of its jurisdiction, the OLGR no longer had grounds to persist in refusing our organisation a valid authority to fundraise
As a result, on April 17th, 2012, the AVN was again awarded an authority to fundraise that will be valid for 2 years.
Lastly, even whilst our fundraising authority was revoked, the OLGR stated that it was clear that the AVN pursued a charitable purpose, meaning that without a valid authority, we were not able to accept new members nor could we receive donations from members of the public. Other organisations such as Stop the AVN and their parent group, the Australian Skeptics, do not pursue a charitable purpose and therefore, there are no restrictions on their fundraising activities nor are they required to be audited or to be accountable to anyone for the money they collect and how it is used.
The AVN has always taken its responsibility to our members – whose support has never wavered over this long and difficult period – very seriously. We are grateful for their support – it is only because of our membership that we have been able to pursue this issue in the courts and to gain vindication from both the Supreme Court and the NSW Government in this case.
