The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) has revoked the charity status of St Pauls Prevention Rehabilitation (ABN: 25807878213).

The ACNC Commissioner, Gary Johns, confirmed that the organisation had its registration revoked following an investigation into its activities and operations.

“Due to the seriousness of the issues identified, we have been left with no choice but to revoke the charity status of St Pauls Prevention Rehabilitation,” Johns said.

“St Pauls Prevention Rehabilitation, which is based in Victoria, will no longer be able to access Commonwealth charity tax concessions, including Deductible Gift Recipient status and income tax exemption.”

The decision to revoke the charity’s status was made last week, however, the date of the revocation was backdated to 1 July 2013, the date the ACNC Governance Standards came into effect.

All registered charities must meet their obligations under the ACNC Act and Governance Standards. The Governance Standards are a set of minimum standards that require charities to be run responsibly, and operate lawfully.

Johns said the ACNC gathers intelligence regarding charity misconduct in a number of ways.

“The ACNC often relies on information from the community to identify charities that may not be complying with the law,” Johns said.

“This is in addition to the intelligence we gather internally, and from other government agencies and regulators.

“According to the Charity Compliance Report 2017, the ACNC received almost 1,700 concerns about charities. Of the concerns assessed by our compliance team, 23 per cent were raised by members of the public.

“I encourage anyone with concerns about a registered charity to raise them with the ACNC.”