Mitchell Clayton: Oral Questions — Questions to MinistersText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeMitchell Clayton: Oral Questions — Questions to Ministers[Sitting date: 18 February 2015. Volume:703;Page:1682. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]6.CLAYTON MITCHELL (NZ First) to the Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector: Does she stand by her statement “You and your charities are core in our life of caring and sharing and drive our cultural expression and community based development. This investment of time effort and energy not only helps our country to function but also contributes to the strength and resilience of our communities making them better places for us to live.”?Hon JO GOODHEW (Minister for the Community and Voluntary Sector): Yes. Charities are the heart and soul of our communities. To support them my priorities include improving the public’s trust and confidence in the more than 27000 registered charities in New Zealand.Clayton Mitchell: In that case how can she explain a situation where a 117-year-old bowling club that allows local schools to use its facilities and actively encourages local business teams to participate is being threatened with losing its charitable status—its lifeline to funding—and therefore its ability to simply provide for the community?Hon JO GOODHEW: What I do know is that Charities Services works with every registered charity. In particular when a charity notifies Charities Services that it is changing its rules Charities Services will get back in touch with that charity if in any way its change of rules might preclude it from remaining a registered charity. This process happens over a period of time in which the rules are explained to the charity and it can then weigh up its decision to change its rules to determine whether in fact it will continue to remain a charity or not. In the end the decision around its rules remaining within the ambit of a registered charity is its own.Clayton Mitchell: Why can the Government not do something to rectify the situation given that it amended the Charities Act in 2012 specifically to include the promotion of amateur sport as a charitable purpose?Hon JO GOODHEW: I believe that I already indicated to the member in my previous answer that in fact Charities Services is working with that organisation. Charities Services is also working with other sporting bodies and as I have already indicated when a sporting body indicates to Charities Services that it wishes to change its rules it will receive guidance as to whether that rule change will continue to allow it to remain charitable. The law change in 2012 said that in order for an amateur sporting body to be within the realm of a charity its intention had to principally be for the benefit of the community through education or through health. Therefore it remains up to the organisation to determine whether any changes to its rules will take it outside of principally working in that area.Clayton Mitchell: Why are you making it so hard for sporting groups to obtain funding by removing their charitable status—they are the lifeblood of our communities?Hon JO GOODHEW: It would appear that the member has not been listening. What we are doing for the 27000 charities is providing guidance to them when they seek to change their rules as to whether those rule changes will allow them to remain a registered charity—just sticking within the ambit of the 2012 extended law.Poto Williams: Does she support the Government’s policy to charge charities for police checks; if so how does charging charities hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for a service that is currently free help them to carry out the good work for our community?Hon JO GOODHEW: This is a matter for the Minister of Police but nevertheless I seek the indulgence of the House in that it very much concerns the community and voluntary sector. In order to assist the member I am able tell her that submissions on the Policing (Cost Recovery) Amendment Bill are currently being considered by the Law and Order Committee. Many of these submissions ask the police to consider case by caseexemptions for vetting fees particularly for organisations that have many volunteers and of course the Law and Order Committee will report back in May 2015. So I am watching this closely.