The Shane Warne Foundation tried to have its records declared confidential by the national charity regulator under a federal law that has been used to protect the safety of family violence charities.
It's one in a series of measures taken to avoid public scrutiny of the cricketing legend's personal charity, now being investigated by Victoria's consumer watchdog over its accounting practices.
The probe comes as the foundation has been overstating its current financial position in a bid to counter negative publicity about its practice of donating just 16¢ of every dollar raised on behalf of charities that care for sick and underprivileged children.
Meanwhile, the foundation appears to have been paying rent to Warne's parents and a company associated with one of the directors of the charity.
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A source close to the foundation said there had been "issues" with the foundation's expenses and financial management in the past, but they had recently been addressed and major changes have been made to its operations.
But The Sunday Age can also reveal the high-profile foundation, which has never voluntarily published its financial reports, actually sought to have its records blocked from public release by the national charities regulator.
Illustration: Matt Golding
Illustration: Matt Golding
Under federal law, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission has the power to declare a charity's records confidential on the grounds the information could endanger public safety, reveal the identity of individual donors, or may be commercially sensitive, inaccurate, confusing, or offensive.
Once an application is made by a charity, all its information is automatically withheld from public release until a decision is reached by the ACNC on the merits of the application.
About 2500 charities have made applications under these provisions since 2012, which can including requests to suppress the charity's name, address, contact details, names of staff, and financial records.
The ACNC, which oversees about 55,000 charities, commonly cites family violence organisations as an example of charities whose records are kept confidential under this law.
"All applications approved to withhold information from the register were on the basis of endangering public safety or protecting the privacy of individuals," an ACNC report said in 2014.
Unlike the The Shane Warne Foundation, the financial information of other celebrity-backed charities such as the McGrath Foundation are available on the ACNC register.
But in the wake of negative publicity following a Sunday Age investigation into its activities, the foundation dropped its secrecy bid last week.
"The Shane Warne Foundation asked that their withholding application be withdrawn in the interests of transparency," a ACNC spokesman said.
In October, The Sunday Age compelled the foundation to release its annual reports from 2011-13 under an obscure provision of Victoria's Fundraising Act.
The documents revealed the foundation has actually donated an average of just 16¢ of every dollar it raised on behalf of sick and underprivileged children from 2011 to 2013.
The vast majority of its funds were instead spent staging glitzy celebrity events such as cricket matches, poker tournaments, and gala dinners. It also spent $210,000 employing Shane Warne's brother in an executive position at the foundation.
General manager Emma Coleman told The Sunday Age the foundation had not produced a 2014 financial report because no donations were made to charities by the foundation that year.
But the decision by the foundation to drop its confidentiality application led the ACNC to automatically publish the foundation's 2014 annual report, which has been on file with the regulator for more than eight months.
The 2014 documents show the foundation is in a worse financial position than it is currently publicly claiming.
The foundation has recently told the media it donated 30¢ of every dollar raised in 2014.
But the 2014 records show just 11¢ of every dollar raised were actually earmarked for charities that care for sick and needy children that year.
The foundation is only legally obliged to distribute 4¢ of every dollar it raises.
In 2014, the foundation spent $551,000 on marketing, events and other operating costs but only actually raised $452,000.
The expenses included $55,000 spent on "partnership agreements", $96,000 on catering and alcohol, and $133,000 on salaries.
Only $50,000 was distributed to its beneficiaries charities such as the Starlight Foundation and Clown Doctors.
It's the third time in four years the foundation has run at a loss.
The foundation has refused to explain how it calculated the 30 per cent distribution figure for 2014.
But it may involve a related charity, known as The Shane Warne Necessitous Circumstances Fund, which reportedly distributed $83,400 to needy children that year.
However, that fund generated just $700 in income and posted a financial loss of $84,000 in 2014. No other reports were made available for this fund. This charity can be funded by The Shane Warne Foundation itself.
In October, Shane Warne said in an interview with the Herald Sun more than $8 million had been raised for charity since TSWF was established in 2003.
As a result of The Sunday Age investigation, the foundation held an emergency board meeting.
Shane Warne soon after announced the foundation was now expecting to have donated more than $4 million to charity by January 2016.
This figure could not be confirmed because the foundation has refused to provide its financial reports going back its establishment in 2003, and its 2015 report has not yet been completed.
The Shane Warne Foundation did not respond to a request for comment. Shane Warne could not be reached for comment.
A source close to the board said there had recently been a major shake-up at the foundation and there would be "an absolute forensic audit and examination of everything going forward".
"What is not on the books is the sheer amount of hours for visits, corporate speeches and hostings that would run into the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars over the life of the organisation for the general goodwill of the foundation and other charities that can leverage appearances by people like Shane," they said.
"Part of it is to have distributions. A major part of it is to bring joy and fun to people who otherwise wouldn't. That's the bottom line on The Shane Warne Foundation."
Consumer Affairs Victoria inspectors have also been investigating the foundation for more than four months over what it describes as "inconsistencies in the Shane Warne Foundation's reporting and accounting practices".
But the agency refuses to officially characterise its work as an "investigation".
"Consumer Affairs Victoria is continuing to make enquiries and monitor the situation to ensure the Shane Warne Foundation is meeting its regulatory obligations," a spokeswoman said.
The foundation lodged a complaint against CAV last week after the watchdog confirmed to The Sunday Age it was "looking into" the foundation's financial affairs.
It can also be revealed the foundation's current headquarters are in a building owned by Shane Warne's parents, who purchased the Brighton property in July. It is unknown how much in rent they are receiving.
The 2014 report shows the foundation had previously paid $44,000 in rent to an entity related to one of the directors of the foundation, although it did not provide identifying information about the parties. During that period, the foundation had been in offices at Etihad Stadium.
The board of the Shane Warne Foundation is packed with Australian business and entertainment luminaries, including Eddie McGuire, Seek.com founder Andrew Bassat​, Crown executive Ann Peacock, and TV personality Glenn Robbins.
. After all he is being paid more than the others, why wouldn't they
