The Gloriavale compound on the West Coast.
Photo: RNZ / Jean Edwards
Senior government minister Louise Upston says she did not see anything on a visit to Gloriavale that caused concern about children’s safety at the West Coast Christian community.
The Social Development Minister visited Gloriavale on 30 January where she met Overseeing Shepherd Stephen Standfast, senior 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.
Former Gloriavale member Virginia Courage has criticised the visit, saying the minister would not have seen the reality of life at the sect and should meet leavers rather than community leaders.
On Thursday Upston said the visit was important because she was responsible for an Abuse in Care Royal Commission recommendation 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.
Social Development Minister Louise Upston visited Gloriavale on 30 January.
Photo: RNZ / Mark Papalii
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 said she met a large group of Gloriavale leaders and attended a community gathering with a question-and-answer session.
“Then I did a walk-around like I usually do, I just wander off and go and talk to whoever I want to talk to and that’s exactly what I did,” she said.
Gloriavale’s leaders were concerned about education and schooling but Upston told them decisions about Gloriavale Christian School were a matter for the Secretary for Education.
The minister was unable to meet leavers in Wellington on a previous occasion but said she was happy to do so in future.
“I’ve said I’m happy to and the ball is in their court so when they’re back in Wellington, happy to catch up,” she said.
Upston 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.
Pugh said she had nothing further to add to the minister’s comments, except to say that she was there as the electorate MP to support Upston’s visit.
RNZ has approached Short and Churchill for comment.
Courage earlier told RNZ the minister should not have gone to Gloriavale.
“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,” she said.
Upston would have met members hand-picked by Gloriavale’s leadership, Courage said.
“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.”
Countless visits from police, politicians and government departments had failed to expose wrong-doing at Gloriavale, Courage said.
“None of them figured out what was going on, it had to be from ex-members going to court and proving it in court without a shadow of doubt the level of abuse, neglect, coercion, manipulation, deception even. You cannot go and visit Gloriavale and know what it’s about. You do not see the real thing,” she said.
Former Overseeing Shepherd Howard Temple was initially sentenced to two years and two months’ jail for indecently assaulting young women and girls, but that sentence was reduced to 11 months home detention.
Photo: Tim Brown / RNZ
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.
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.
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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