Selective scrutiny: Charity status stripped for some, ignored for others

Summarised by Centrist

Bob McCoskrie’s Family First lost their charity status due to alleged political activity in 2022 for advocating conservative social policies. Recently, Brian Tamaki’s Destiny Church is facing calls to have their status revoked after recently engaging in conservative political activism.

Yet, New Zealand’s rainbow advocacy groups—many of which openly lobby for policy changes, receive government funding, and push ideological agendas in schools—face no similar crackdown. 

These groups are deeply entrenched in political activism, influencing legislation, education policy, and public funding decisions, yet retain their tax-exempt status.

Several of these organisations, including Rainbow Youth and InsideOUT, are linked to ILGA World, a global LGBTQ+ lobby group affiliated with the UN and funded in part through USAID. ILGA openly promotes political advocacy and policy lobbying as core membership benefits.

Penny Marie of Let Kids Be Kids argues that the rules around charity status are being applied selectively—targeting conservative and religious groups while shielding activist organisations that align with government and international priorities.

“Why is no one looking at them and comparing their activities to political? They’re all lobbying, they lobby the government, they do the legislation changes… They aren’t offering grassroots support, they’re running advocacy campaigns. That’s politics,” she said. 

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