Australian Government asks Adelaide businessman to show the money

A look at one rocky road to Anzac Day 2016………..

Meet Chris Fox.

Campgallipoli.com.au:

Chris has a strong background in corporate finance and advisory services. He has advised on numerous business restructuring projects over the past 25 years including one of the country’s largest banks, health group organisations and logistics companies. In addition, he has substantial experience in marketing, media, advertising and event management at a National level. Chris was also the youngest Chairman of Anglicare, Australia’s largest non-for-profit organisation. Chris is the passionate leader behind the Camp Gallipoli concept and model.

Add to this sparse online biography, these past positions held by Chris Fox:

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER (CEO) Central Bayside Community Health Services Limited, Kingston, Victoria, 2012

Managing Director and Founder Fox Finance Group of Companies, April 1994 – November 2011 which included positions as:

MANAGING DIRECTOR of Fox Finance Corporation Pty Limited (merged in 2007 with National Merchant Bank). South Australian focussed, boutique Finance Company with over 3000 business clients.
CONSULTING to Chartered Accounting firm.
MANAGING DIRECTOR of Fox Partners Pty Limited (Management buy-out 2005) Integrated Financial Services Business.
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN of H Muecke & Co Pty Limited and Muecke Carrying Company Pty Limited (sold to P&O Ports Corp. United Kingdom in 2005)
Established in 1875, States oldest transport company.
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN of Cartonics (SA) Pty Limited (sold to National retailer Nextbyte in 2005)
Original Telco.

How the media reports the activities of Chris Fox.

News.com.au, 10 October 2014:

AT first flush it is a smart idea for thousands to share the essence of the iconic Gallipoli swag experience — a vigil under the stars, followed by a dawn service — much closer to home.

But to the man behind Camp Gallipoli it is much, much more — a chance for Australians to actively rediscover a positive national identity.

“Australia has lost its identity,” says founder Chris Fox. He adds: “We have gone backwards, we are everything we hated.”

Bandt.com.au, 19 February 2015:

Outdoor media provider APN Outdoor has thrown its support behind Camp Gallipoli, a not for profit organisation that is commemorating 100 years of ANZAC spirit with sleep out events to be held across Australia and New Zealand on April 24….

All Camp Gallipoli events will have spaces set aside for camping and there will be entertainment, guests, movies, documentaries and a special Dawn Service on Anzac day, so people can immerse themselves in the ANZAC legacy. All funds raised will go to Legacy and the Returned Services League (RSL).

A Camp Gallipoli event was held in Canberra on Saturday February 14 with a service at the Australian War Memorial. The RSL ANZAC Flame was passed on for it final journey to towns and cities representing the Camp Gallipoli Foundation.  The RSL ANZAC Flame travelled to Canberra last October, after it was lit in Albany, Western Australia, the city from where troops departed a century ago.

Chris Fox, chief executive, Camp Gallipoli Foundation said, “We recognise the uniqueness of the Australian and New Zealand spirit of unconditional mateship. We feel this was forged at Gallipoli in 1915 where race, background and status meant little and mateship, trust and honour meant everything. We are pleased to have corporate sponsors like APN Outdoor onboard to promote awareness of Camp Gallipoli across Australia and New Zealand.”

2GB Radio, 23 April 2015:

Steve Price is joined by Camp Gallipoli CEO Chris Fox to discuss how the cancelled Camp Gallipoli commemoration in Sydney is now back on.

The Australian, 10 November 215:

Tomorrow, students across Australia will donate a gold coin to restore a dilapidated school in the nearby village of Pozieres where almost 7000 Australians died during a six-week campaign in 1916 — the bloodiest battle in Australian history.

Historian Charles Bean described the site as “more densely sown with Australian sacrifice than any other spot on earth’’.

Camp Gallipoli Foundation chief executive Chris Fox said: “Billy Hughes once said that Australia was born on the shores of Gallipoli. Well, if that’s the case, then its baptism was Pozieres.”

The foundation is organising the fundraiser to provide a living memorial to the Anzac forces and encourage Australian children to learn about the great sacrifice the village represents, Mr Fox said.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 17 April 2016:

The chief executive of a charity responsible for controversial Anzac-branded merchandise that has been banned from sale has hit back at social media "snipers", saying the centenary commemorations of the Gallipoli landings are being "bogged down in negativity".   

In the face of the backlash over merchandising, Chris Fox, the chief executive of Camp Gallipoli, has defended his not-for-profit organisation as one that is educating young Australians about mateship and the legacy of Anzac Day at a series of camps.

Three Anzac branded items from a range developed by Camp Gallipoli have been pulled from shelves at Target after Minister for Veterans Affairs Michael Ronaldson deemed they had breached conditions of a permit the organisation has to sell the merchandise.

Mr Fox said all profits from the merchandise were being donated to the Returned Services League of Australia and Legacy.

The investigation is announced.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 23 April 2016:

An Anzac charity that received millions of dollars from government grants and ticketed events is now being investigated over fears it did not pass on the money raised to veterans associations.

The federal government has ordered an investigation into the Camp Gallipoli Foundation and has stripped it of its permit to use the protected word "Anzac" just days before the foundation stages a series of educational and fundraising events around the country on Anzac Day.

The move by the Department of Veterans Affairs comes after Fairfax Media revealed the foundation's chief executive, Chris Fox, may have personally profited from the foundation by charging "management fees" worth up to $1.5 million a year through commercial companies owned by his family and an associate.

The Camp Gallipoli Foundation, which last year received $2.5 million federal grant, has been unwilling to substantiate its claims that it donated money raised on behalf of veterans' charities despite collecting millions of dollars in ticketing revenue, donations and sponsorships from corporate Australia.

The national leadership of the RSL and Legacy report they have received no financial donations from Camp Gallipoli.

The revelations raise questions about how taxpayers funds were spent on the 2015 Anzac commemorations and the regulation of groups that fund raise on behalf of charities…..

The government did not comment on whether it was aware Mr Fox was a bankrupt as recently as 2013 when it issued the grant and official permission to use "Anzac" for the foundation's activities.

The Camp Gallipoli Foundation ran nationwide events on the eve of the Anzac centenary in 2015, hosting an estimated 40,000 people who paid up to $120 each to camp out "just like the Diggers did".

Events are also scheduled for most capital cities this Anzac Day.

The Department of Veterans' Affairs – through the Anzac Centenary Fund – backed the original program with a one-off grant of $2.5 million.

Another $1 million was contributed by corporate partners such as Target and Woolworths through merchandising deals and sponsorship arrangements.

Promotional materials said any surplus generated by the events – and its membership-based "Camp Gallipoli Club" – would be donated to veterans' groups, Legacy and the RSL.

In the days before the 2015 centenary events, Mr Fox announced Camp Gallipoli was expecting to generate a "surplus" of $900,000. Fairfax Media understands that severe weather at the Sydney event did hurt the finances of the foundation but it is unknown to what extent.

A dispute has erupted between Camp Gallipoli and the veterans' charities about the funds.

"Legacy has not received any money from Camp Gallipoli," national chairman Tony Ralph said.

RSL national chief Samantha Jackman said the organisation had also not received any donation after the 2015 events.

Both veterans' groups say they have no official relationship with Camp Gallipoli for 2016.

But the foundation's deputy chair Graham Ingerson maintains the foundation has "significantly supported" the RSL and Legacy. "The Foundation has invested significantly in many projects to aid and assist these charities."

Despite committing to release a list of these contributions, none was provided by the foundation.

A Fairfax Media investigation has also found that chief executive Chris Fox is apparently trying to turn the event into a commercial venture by charging percentage-based "management fees" through companies owned by his family and an associate.

The companies are entitled to receive fees equivalent to up to 20 per cent of the fixed cost of staging the events.

Mr Fox, who is also employed on a $150,000 annual salary as the CEO, has refused to disclose how much money the for-profit companies have actually made via Camp Gallipoli.

While eventually acknowledging they qualified for a fee worth up to $1.5 million in 2015, Mr Fox said no management fees have been charged because the Camp Gallipoli events did not generate enough revenue.

He later said his company did receive a payment of $100,000 to cover staff costs, as well as received "loans" from the foundation and a $215,000 gift from an unnamed benefactor to cover expenses in lieu of the fee payments. 

Mr Fox, who said he also had not received a salary in six months, eventually claimed he "did not know" what had been received by the companies in fees.

"We're living on scraps, metaphorically. We've run it on an oily rag. No one is trying to profit from it – we're just honestly trying to do something good," he said…..

Camp Gallipoli says Mr Fox's bankruptcy is "historic and finalised" and "unrelated to the work of the foundation".