Family First Maintains Charitable Status During Appeal

Family First is welcoming an order made by the Wellington High Court that the Charities Board maintain Family First’s registration as a charity until its appeal against deregistration is heard in the Court of Appeal.

“The Charities Board had notified us that we were to be removed from the Charities Register tomorrow (28 September) due to the judgment by Justice France in the Wellington High Court last month which upheld the Charities Board’s decision to de-register Family First as a charity,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

The High Court stated in its judgment that Family First’s “…core purpose of promoting the traditional family unit cannot be shown to be in the public benefit in the charitable sense under the Act.”

Family First does not accept the High Court’s analysis or its conclusions and is now appealing to the Court of Appeal.

“An overly restrictive or narrow view of what is in the public benefit is likely to be of concern to all charities, many of which have a certain emphasis or point of view. The importance of freedom of expression and open debate in a civil society are ideals every New Zealander should be defending.”
ENDS

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