Here’s a little something that the Prime Minister should be urgently seeking advice on – or backbenchers with any steel in their spines should be asking him.

Are poor Joe and Joan Taxpayer going to be shelling out to keep that vital national service GetUp! running during this time of crisis?

We here at Flat White see the situation as something like this:

• GetUp!, as a not for profit – even one that isn’t registered with the charities regulator, the ACNC – could be entitled to the $1,500 per employee per fortnight Job Keeker Payment to protect its staff.
• The government has said, “Not-for-profit entities (including charities) and self-employed individuals (businesses without employees) that meet the turnover tests that apply for businesses are eligible to apply for Job Keeper Payments.”
• They will, of course, need to see a decrease in revenue of 30 per cent in revenue to qualify, but reports for close to a decade now have shown that GetUp! are more fare more adventurous and experienced at cooking the books than any exponent of molecular gastronomy.
• And just to cap this all off Treasurer Jos Frydenberg has given the ACNC Commissioner discretion for entities that don’t strictly meet the 30 per cent revenue reduction criteria but can demonstrate they have been hit.

There’s only one bright note in all of this, the line: “This announcement will require a legislative amendment.”

Parliament has a special session this week.

There is more than a little interest in what the draft legislation will say.

Might we suggest, Prime Minister, an amendment to ensure that at this time of national need taxpayers aren’t underwriting pathological liars and political stalkers?.

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