Louise Upston visited Gloriavale on 30 January.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
A former Gloriavale member has criticised Louise Upston’s decision to visit the West Coast Christian community, calling on the Social Development Minister to meet leavers instead of the leadership for the truth about life at the sect.
Upston visited Gloriavale on 30 January, where she met Overseeing Shepherd Stephen Standfast, community leaders and other Gloriavale members.
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.
She was accompanied by National’s West Coast-Tasman MP Maureen Pugh, Ministry of Education deputy secretary Geoff Short and Regional Public Service Commissioner Craig Churchill.
Upston said January’s visit was important because of an Abuse in Care Royal Commission recommendation that the government take all practicable steps to ensure the ongoing safety of children, young people and adults at Gloriavale.
“Since taking on responsibility for the response to recommendation 88 of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care in August last year I’ve consistently made it clear that the welfare of children in the Gloriavale community will be the number one priority for our work there,” she said.
“This involves an all-of-government, integrated response – like children elsewhere in New Zealand, young people in this community must be safe, protected and able to thrive.
“Agencies have already been taking a number of actions and multiple agencies are now on the ground several times a week. We also know there have been a number of changes recently in the community.
“Visiting the site was an important opportunity to meet with the new Overseeing Shepherd and community leaders and the wider community group.
“I welcome the opportunity to learn about the changes they’ve made over the last few years, and am pleased to see they are supportive of the outcomes framework and working together in the months ahead.”
Upston was not available for interview and declined to respond to a series of questions about her visit, including whether it was appropriate given the history of abuse at Gloriavale, whether she believed the community’s 400 children were safe and whether she believed the commune should be shut down.
Her office told RNZ she knew it was important to visit to hear from the community first-hand and so requested to do so.
Former Gloriavale member Virginia Courage said she doubted the minister understood the way the community worked.
“Who is she working with? The leadership of Gloriavale? It’s blowing my mind. She should not have gone,” she said.
“What she’s seeing is not reality, it’s crafted, it’s practised. Them going there and not being informed, not knowing what they’re dealing with, not having talked to leavers, not having gotten facts about the level of harm, really all you’re doing is giving Gloriavale air-time.”
Courage said Upston would have met members hand-picked by Gloriavale’s leadership.
“I’m highly, highly suspicious that this was just a PR event to make it look like they care. ‘We’ve been there and visited’ – and you didn’t see any abuse that day so it’s all okay? Of course you didn’t see any abuse, you were talking to the people who do the abusing,” she said.
“It actually upsets me to think that she went there and talked to the leadership. It’s the leadership who are responsible for the teachings that this community is suppressed and dominated by.”
Gloriavale Christian Community on the West Coast. File picture.
Photo: Jean Edwards
Courage said she had not been contacted by Upston and was not aware of any other leavers meeting the minister either.
“It’s not too late to do the right thing. The first thing on the top of list would be contacting leavers. Unless you know what the problem is, how can you fix it?” she said.
Upston declined to say whether she had met any former Gloriavale members in the last six months.
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 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”.
A Labour spokesperson declined to comment on Upston’s visit.
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.
On Tuesday, Temple won a High Court appeal against his sentence and will instead serve a period of 11 months’ home detention at a property in Greymouth.
Last December the Ministry of Education announced it was cancelling Gloriavale Christian School’s registration because of safety concerns but the private school remains open pending a High Court judicial review.
The Children’s Commissioner Claire Achmad earlier called for the school’s urgent closure, saying she had zero confidence that students were safe.
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.
In 2024 former members who claim they were held as slaves from birth by the Christian community’s leaders filed a multi-million-dollar class action lawsuit against Gloriavale and five government agencies.
The legal proceedings followed separate High Court action alleging five government agencies knowingly allowed abuse to happen at Gloriavale.
In two separate cases, the Employment Court’s chief judge ruled nine former members were Gloriavale employees, rather than volunteers, working on the community’s domestic teams, or factories and farms.
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