EXCLUSIVE
The charity of former Melbourne power couple Luke and Cate Sayers — given over $3 million in taxpayer funds in recent years — has shuttered its website and failed to lodge its annual accounts with authorities.
The website for Inclusion Foundation has been taken down, its telephone service is deactivated, and investigations show it has failed to lodge its June 30, 2025, reports with the charities regulator.
The revelations come as the estranged couple are embroiled in a high-profile defamation battle, with Cate Sayers suing her former parter over statements he allegedly made while seeking to extricate himself from a lewd photo scandal.
Luke Sayers was formerly CEO of PwC Australia — and was in charge for all relevant times of the global tax leaks affair — and was president of the AFL’s Carlton Football Club, until his ousting over the photo scandal in January last year.
That Inclusion Foundation was facing financial troubles was revealed by The Klaxon in May last year, with its auditor warning there was a “material uncertainty” it could continue as a “going concern”.
In the year to June 30 2024, the charity posted a $510,000 loss, and had just $173,000 in equity — which was about four months’ worth at the rate it was losing cash.
It has not filed its financial report or its “annual information statement” for the year to June 30, 2025, which were due by January 31.
Regulator the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) has marked both as “overdue”.
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Grants to Inclusion Foundation by financial year, according to its audited accounts. Graphic: The Klaxon. Source: ACNC
The charity, founded in 2009, received record taxpayer grants in the 2022 and 2023 financial years, of $1.59 million and $1.51m respectively.
That was five times higher than the next highest year for grants, which was $313,200 in 2018-19, the charity’s audited financial statements show.
The telephone number for Inclusion Foundation goes direct to voicemail — with no recorded message — and the group did not respond to emailed requests for comment.
The charity, originally created to operate dance classes for people with Down syndrome, in recent years branched into disability employment services.
It has publicised tie-ups with a string of major entities, including retailer JB HiFi, Deakin University, Dulux Group, mining services giant Sodexo and government-funded employment agency CVGT.
The Inclusion Foundation’s website has been taken down.
Cate Sayers launched legal against her estranged husband in January, alleging she was defamed after Luke Sayers blamed her for the posting of a photograph of his penis to social media.
Last Friday was the first hearing of the case in the Victorian Supreme Court.
In his defence, Luke Sayers has claimed his wife told him “Let’s see how you get out of this one”, the day after the image was posted from his X account.
Cate Sayers has requested the defamation case be heard by a jury, while Luke Sayers has applied to the matter to be heard in the Federal Court, where trials by jury are rare.
The AFL said it had conducted an inquiry into the scandal, however it has since been revealed it did not contact Cate Sayers to verify claims from Luke Sayers, including that she had posted the image.
In the lead up to the 2022 federal election it was revealed then Treasurer Josh Frydenberg had run political advertisements featuring Cate Sayer and Inclusion Foundation, and others featuring Guide Dogs Victoria and its then CEO Karen Hayes.
It is illegal for charities to endorse politicians or political parties.
The Klaxon reports on the Sayers amid the Frydenberg scandal. Source: The Klaxon
Hayes was ousted over the affair and replaced as Guide Dogs Victoria CEO by Nicki Long, who said the impact of the scandal had been “huge”, with no part of the organisation left unharmed.
Cate Sayers appeared in the Frydenberg advertisements as “founder, Inclusion Foundation”.
“Josh is the epitome of community and has a massive track record of supporting our local schools, our local small businesses, our local charities, and making things happen for our community,” Cate Sayers is quoted in the ad.
“Josh walks the talk, but more importantly he has a huge heart, listens and he cares”.
Cate Sayers appeared in illegal political advertisements for Josh Frydenberg at the 2022 federal election. Source: Supplied
Luke Sayers was Inclusion Foundation’s chair at the time.
Responding to the scandal, he wrote to members stating that Cate had done nothing wrong, although he provided no evidence to back the claim.
The letter made no mention of the fact he was Cate Sayers’ husband, or that the serious governance issues had been addressed in any way.
Frydenberg has never admitted any wrongdoing.
Luke Sayers, Cate Sayers and Frydenberg have all repeatedly refused to respond to requests for comment from The Klaxon over the past four years.
Frydenberg was ousted at the 2022 election, with a massive 9.3 per cent swing against him.
The seat of Kooyong, in Melbourne’s inner-east, was won by independent Monique Ryan, marking the first time the Liberal Party’s history that it did not hold the seat.
Within weeks of being ousted from parliament, Frydenberg became Australian chair of Goldman Sachs, the global investment bank famously known as the “giant vampire squid” over unethical and rapacious practices.
Former Federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg with Cate and Luke Sayers. Source: Supplied
As Federal Treasurer, Frydenberg secretly deleted key findings of an inquiry into alleged corruption at the top of corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.
The ACNC’s charity register states Inclusion Foundation has four directors, Luke Sayers; Helen Lorraine Flannery; Michael Williams; and Jason Chequer.
As revealed last year, Cate Sayers has quit as a director of the charity.
“Cate Sayers is quoted as saying Treasurer Frydenberg had made a ‘significant investment’ into Inclusion Foundation”
Inclusion Foundation’s audited accounts do not state how much of its grants came from the Federal Government.
Its 2021-22 financial year accounts state that “additional funding of $2,065,200” was to be received from the Victorian Government, in a “deed variation”.
In Frydenberg’s 2022 political advertisements, Cate Sayers is quoted at saying “Josh” had “recently” made a “significant investment” into Inclusion Foundation.
