Taieri MP Ingrid Leary says Mike King has “cherry-picked” elements of a letter about government funding of his charity after accusing her of being “obsessed” with making cuts to it.<\/p>\n
Mr King, a mental health advocate, made a lengthy post on LinkedIn about an Auditor-General report that found the I Am Hope\u2019s government contract for Gumboot Friday was being managed properly.<\/p>\n
It comes a year after criticism of the government\u2019s hurried procurement process for the mental health programme.<\/p>\n
In May 2024,\u00a0the government announced that the I Am Hope foundation\u00a0would receive $6 million a year for four years\u00a0to provide counselling services for people aged 5 to 25. The $24 million was pledged as part of the coalition agreement in 2023, providing access to free mental health counselling services for more than 15,000 Kiwis a year.<\/p>\n
The Auditor-General report was released in response to Ms Leary, who pushed for an investigation to see if the contract was giving value for money.<\/p>\n
“After two years of constant public criticism from Labour MP Ingrid Leary and repeated innuendo about mismanagement of funds, the Auditor-General has now made it crystal clear,”\u00a0King wrote on LinkedIn.<\/p>\n
“I Am Hope and the Gumboot Friday contract are being managed properly and in line with good practice.<\/p>\n
“That is the finding. Full stop.”<\/p>\n
Ms Leary told the Otago Daily Times the situation was “not about any individual”.<\/p>\n
“This is about holding the government to account for their funding choices and I won’t stop advocating for young people.”<\/p>\n
Mr King had “cherry-picked” elements of the Auditor-General\u2019s letter, she said.<\/p>\n
“I would encourage people to read the letter themselves and form their own opinions.<\/p>\n
“However, as I say, this is not about Mike King. This is about an opposition spokesperson doing their job.”<\/p>\n
Mr King, who stepped down as leader of I Am Hope last month, said the Labour MP was “obsessed” with the idea of withdrawing funding for Gumboot Friday and she did not understand the contract.<\/p>\n
He said both he and I Am Hope do not receive a “single cent” of government funding and all the money goes directly to counselling sessions for young people.<\/p>\n
“When Ms Leary calls for funding to be withdrawn, she is not punishing me. She is not punishing I Am Hope.<\/p>\n
“She is punishing the 5-to-25-year-olds who rely on free counselling when they need it most.<\/p>\n
“That is the part that has never seemed to bother her.”<\/p>\n
Ms Leary said she called for funding to be “paused” in direct response to what she considered to be “dangerous statements” made by Mr King about the role of alcohol as a response to mental health issues.<\/p>\n
Those comments were made by Mr King on NewstalkZB last year, in which he said “alcohol is not a problem for people with mental health issues, it\u2019s actually the solution to our problem, until you come up with a better solution.”<\/p>\n
Ms Leary said it was “entirely appropriate for me to suggest that the funding be paused because of the public health concerns over those statements”.<\/p>\n
She had been “very careful” throughout all her scrutiny “to level my focus at the government, its procurement process and its contract management”.<\/p>\n
“My initial queries were vindicated when the Auditor-General came out with a fairly damning report about the lack of process for the procurement.<\/p>\n
“Given the complex contracting arrangements and MOU [memorandum of understanding] between the Ministry of Health, Health New Zealand and I Am Hope, I think it is entirely appropriate for the opposition to continue to scrutinise and require transparency.”<\/p>\n
Her interest was in good process, transparency, accountability and value for money, she said.<\/p>\n
One of the prime considerations when considering value for money was what else could be purchased for that amount of money.<\/p>\n
“We have seen over this term of government many grassroots mental health organisations who have done incredible work over the years, fall over, as a result of lack of government funding.<\/p>\n
“We also have unanswered questions that I think donors and taxpayers are interested in, regarding big salaries of I Am Hope members, which are out of step with the sector.”<\/p>\n
It was her job as opposition spokesperson to ask those questions on behalf of taxpayers, she said.<\/p>\n
But Mr King urged Ms Leary to return to South Dunedin and represent the people who elected her.<\/p>\n
“The people of South Dunedin deserve representation that focuses on them, rather than on scoring points off my name.”<\/p>\n
The Auditor-General said audit work had been completed and the ministry\u2019s handling of the contract was sound.<\/p>\n