Source: Radio New Zealand
Social Development Minister Louise Upston. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Senior government minister Louise Upston was duped by Gloriavale leaders on a visit to the West Coast Christian community and should resign, a leavers’ lawyer says.
The Social Development Minister visited Gloriavale on 30 January where she met Overseeing Shepherd Stephen Standfast, senior leaders and other members as the minister responsible for an Abuse in Care Royal Commission recommendation directed at the community.
On Thursday Upston told RNZ she did not see anything that caused concern about children’s safety and government agencies working at Gloriavale would know about any problems at the commune.
Lawyer Dennis Gates, who has previously represented Gloriavale leavers, said Upston had been misled.
“Minister Upston is completely naive about what’s happening or is very poorly serviced by her department to the point I think she should resign,” he said.
“Her blissful ignorance of her own duty to the children of Gloriavale is a repeat of decades of such political ineptness that has led to the ongoing festering sore in New Zealand that is Gloriavale,” he said.
Upston’s office declined an interview request and declined to respond to written questions about Gates’ criticism.
Gates said Upston’s comments about child safety were farcical because the Ministry of Education announced in December that it was cancelling Gloriavale Christian School’s registration because of safety concerns.
“You’ve got one minister saying they’re safe and another ministry saying they’re not,” he said.
“If she said they weren’t safe, then she’d have to act. It clearly tells me that they’re not in a position to act, don’t want to act, maybe it’s politically too sensitive or they just don’t know what to do. In any case, it’s just incompetence in my assessment.”
The private school remains open pending a High Court judicial review.
The Gloriavale compound on the West Coast. RNZ / Jean Edwards
Gates said any information shared with government agencies was still controlled by Gloriavale’s Shepherds.
“Everything in that community is controlled, even her visit. She was duped, she didn’t see what was in front of her. It’s staring her in the face,” he said.
“It’s like talking to the prison guards about how to make life better for the prisoners and not talking to the prisoners.”
Photos of the visit seen by RNZ show Upston speaking to parents, holding a baby, visiting a family home and touring the school art room.
Gates said factors indicating abuse listed in a child safety policy negotiated with former Overseeing Shepherd Howard Temple in July 2021 were still present at the commune, including substandard living conditions where members lived like “battery hens”.
“The comments that she has come out with basically mean that she doesn’t understand or recognise what she’s looking at to the extent I think she should resign when she can’t even recognise that her own department’s policies are not being followed or enforced,” he said.
Gloriavale members were physically and psychologically trapped, Gates said.
“There’s no freedom of choice, they’re trapped, they don’t have any choice in education, freedom of expression, even their clothing – it’s like a uniform – there’s no patch but basically it’s the same as a gang,” he said.
“People leaving Gloriavale come out in a state of deep depression, almost suicidal. That is not the sign of a healthy, functioning community.
“That place should be shut down. You can either shut it down in a controlled, structured manner for everybody’s benefit or let it fall apart and deal with the chaos that comes as a result.”
On Thursday Upston said the visit was important because she was responsible for the Royal Commission recommendation that the government take all practicable steps to ensure the ongoing safety of children, young people and adults at Gloriavale.
“I thought it was really important for me to be able to meet the key leaders, to be able to see for myself, and to ensure that I was well-informed,” she said.
Asked if she thought Gloriavale children were safe, Upston said “there was nothing that I saw that led me to think they weren’t”.
“What we’re working on is a community plan. I have to give them the benefit of the doubt and I am at this stage confident that they are engaged in the process, that they are working with the government agencies on the ground, that they’re working on an outcomes plan. That is very much anchored around the safety and care of children,” she said.
Government agencies were at Gloriavale working with the community on a regular basis, Upston said.
“Clearly there have been issues in the past. We are focussed now on the safety of children. There was nothing that I saw that led me to be concerned about it but regular contact with agencies on the ground will continue to happen and, because we are now looking at it as a group of agencies collectively, if there was anything that happened we would get to see it and know about it quickly,” she said.
Upston was accompanied by National’s West Coast-Tasman MP Maureen Pugh, Ministry of Education deputy secretary Geoff Short, who is coordinating the cross-agency work, and Regional Public Service Commissioner Craig Churchill.
A Gloriavale spokesperson said the minister came to see the community first-hand and meet a cross-section of members including the school board, mothers, managers and leaders.
It was a short visit including a brief inspection of the school, main building and accommodation, and a meeting with a homeschooling family, the spokesperson said.
The minister and senior leaders discussed “concerns about the registration of the school, success of our policies regarding abuse and continuing plans to support leavers”, they said.
Standfast took on the role of Overseeing Shepherd last December following the resignation of Howard Temple, who was sentenced to two years and two months’ jail for indecently assaulting young women and girls over 20 years.
The High Court quashed Temple’s jail sentence on Tuesday following an appeal. The 85-year-old will instead serve 11 months’ home detention at a property in Greymouth.
Gloriavale founder Hopeful Christian – formerly known as Neville Cooper – was sentenced to five years in prison in December 1995 on three charges of indecent assault.
The Abuse in Care inquiry found the Overseeing Shepherd and senior leaders at fault for allowing physical and sexual abuse at the community, failing to prevent abuse and protect survivors and inappropriately handling perpetrators, allowing them to remain in the community and continue their abuse.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
