Gloriavale’s annus horribilis

By Laura Mills | Greymouth Star: Article Online |

18 December 2023

The Gloriavale Christian Community has been under siege all year, with a raft of legal action ongoing into 2024.

It is waiting to hear whether it has been granted leave to appeal an Employment Court decision, upheld last week by the Court of Appeal, that girls working in the Gloriavale kitchen, were employees and not volunteers.

The judges in that case have invited further submissions on a couple of points of law before making their decision. The Labour Inspectorate also says the Employment Court is the wrong court to claim the inspectorate breached its statutory duty to the women at Gloriavale. Arguments on that issue will be heard in the new year.

The court case with BNZ, which has been ordered to continue providing banking services for Gloriavale is also continuing.

BNZ tried to withdraw its banking services when the first Employment Court ruling came out that former male members of Gloriavale were also employees. Gloriavale objected and a court injunction is in place until the matter heads to a substantive hearing. The Education Review Office has also given Gloriavale School a year to improve before it does another inspection.

Its most recent review raised a raft of concerns and said the school did not meet many of the criteria for registration as a private school.

Meanwhile, the Department of Internal Affairs is reviewing Gloriavale’s charitable status.

Gloriavale is still home to about 600 people, and also owns and runs some of the largest dairy farms on the West Coast, plus several other businesses based around its Lake Haupiri community, inland from Nelson Creek.