Price misleads in claim government ‘fumbled’ No camp’s charitable status

Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has been caught out making a misleading statement about the government dragging its feet to grant charitable status to the No campaign against the Voice to Parliament.

On Tuesday, the opposition’s Indigenous Australians spokeswoman and major figures in the No campaign posted on Facebook in response to Qantas’ support for the Yes campaign. In her post, Nampijinpa Price argued “this is a one-sided referendum”, claiming the federal government had been slow to give the No camp deductible gift recipient (DGR) status, which would encourage donations by making them tax-deductible.

“The Yes campaign have had DGR status since last year while the government fumbled and only just recognised and awarded the No campaign last month,” she wrote.  

This claim, shared nearly 200 times on Facebook alone, omits information about the No campaign’s DGR status being granted prior, as well as crucial information about why the Yes campaign received the status earlier.

The Yes campaign organisation, Australians for Indigenous Constitutional Recognition, was given DGR status in the 2022 October budget. The No campaign had yet to form a group and therefore could not receive the status, as acknowledged by No campaign spokesman Nyunggai Warren Mundine at the time: “If such a body is created, it should get the same [tax-deductible] status.”

In March this year, Guardian Australia reported that Mundine wrote to the federal government asking to grant DGR status to his No campaign group, Recognise a Better Way. This was granted in May, a mere two months later, rather than the seven months it reportedly took the Yes campaign. 

However, the No campaign was granted charitable status again in June, according to The Daily Telegraph. This was because of the May merger between two No groups, Mundine’s Recognise a Better Way and right-wing activist group Advance (formerly Advance Australia)’s Fair Australia. The new organisation, Australians for Unity, did not retain Recognise a Better Way’s DGR status, but was granted the status a month later in June with donations backdated to April. 

While the Yes campaign was granted charitable status earlier, the No campaign’s delayed status appears to be the result of its own actions.

Price’s office declined to comment.