Gloriavale leader allegedly admits community ‘used forced labour’
A recording has emerged of what is believed to be Gloriavale leader Howard Temple allegedly admitting to the community that the Bill of Rights had been breached and that people had been forced to work.
The video, leaked to ThreeNews, was recorded in 2022, shortly after some men who had left the West Coast community had a victory in the Employment Court, which ruled they were employees, not volunteers.
In the muffled recording, taken in secrecy by a Gloriavale member, Temple allegedly admits that the community needed to change its way of operating.
“They’re looking at us. So it’s a case of we either get our act together or this thing gonna be demolished,” he is alleged to have said.
In May 2022 the Employment Court ruled that three male former members of Gloriavale were deemed to be employees from the age of 6 until they left.
ThreeNews was told the recording was of Temple six days after the judgment was released.
“There’s a Bill of Rights, we’re not complying with that Bill of Rights … human rights, we’re not complying with those human rights,” Temple allegedly said.
“I ask everybody to sit back now and listen and take notice and think …
“We have been using forced labour. We have been forcing people to work, we have been forcing people to do things they did not want to do.”
Gloriavale has long fought legal battles in the Employment Court about whether people in the community were workers or volunteers, twice losing cases.
Watch ThreeNews’ exclusive report above.