The Australian Future Leaders Foundation, founded in April 2021, enthusiastically supported by then Governor-General David Hurley and PM Scott Morrison has lost its charity status. What’s the scam?
The scam is that despite its lofty promises, the foundation has now lost its Deductible Gift Status (DGR) status and appears not to have produced a single leadership candidate, nor its accounts.
It promised a production line of 440 leadership candidates – “from beekeepers to ballet dancers” – across its first two intakes, contingent in part on it receiving fast-tracked specific DGR status. Recently released FOI documents show an agent (whose name was redacted) for the Foundation advised the Australian Tax Office on May 3, 2024 that the Foundation was withdrawing from the (DGR) scheme with immediate effect.
Said agent claimed the “charity’s supporters have not utilised the DGR concession to date and are unlikely to do so in the future,” adding “conscious of the administrative requirements of the DGR listing on a small organisation, it would withdraw from the scheme.”
The secretive Foundation is still registered with the charity regulator, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC). The listing on the ACNC’s website de-identifies the Foundation’s board and financial documents.
MWM is only aware of one previously listed set of accounts from the Foundation for the financial year ended 30 June 2022. The accounts showed that the Foundation received donations of $2.1 million and paid out salaries of $475,000 – predominantly for its executive director. At the time, the Foundation had a surplus of $1.5m.
The 2021/22 financial information is no longer available via the ACNC. According to its website, the financial report for 2023 is overdue.
From beekeepers to ballet dancers
Back in the day, David Hurley heavily lobbied for it, and Morrison and his Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, found $18m to fund it – funding subsequently rescinded by the Albanese government.
The Foundation sought the specific DGR listing in April 2021 to open up new revenue streams and seek out deductible gifts and donations from other foundations and high-wealth philanthropists. The Morrison government duly conferred the status, usually only granted in exceptional circumstances, fast-tracking the process for the fledgling Foundation.
The now floundering Foundation boasted in its original approach to then Treasurer Frydenberg that it would create leaders “from beekeepers to ballet dancers and financiers to preachers”, constantly referring to its leadership program as the “Governor-General’s Australian Future Leaders Program”.
The DGR status is expected to be formally revoked in the next MYEFO (mid-year economic, fiscal outlook) or the next budget.
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Jommy Tee is a long-time career public servant, having worked in the policy development field for 25+ years as well as an independent researcher interested in politics, current affairs, and Nordic noir.