Gloriavale allegations: Read the report

March 28, 2017: By: Morgan Tait – 28/03/2017 (Updated 29/03/2017) A copy of a 33-page report and a letter sent to the Christian Church Community Trust board detailing the investigation’s findings into the community at Gloriavale have been released to Newsroom under the Official Information Act. The documents supplied by Charities Services –…

Gloriavale: BNZ accounts run without members’ knowledge

March 27, 2017: | Newsroom | Morgan Tait | Senior Gloriavale members may have acted illegally in operating the bank accounts of members without their knowledge – and a government investigation uncovered the activity but did not impose any penalties. The Department of Internal Affairs’ Charities Services investigation did not impose any penalties…

Gloriavale: The history of a reclusive sect

March 27, 2017: | Newsroom | Morgan Tait | Founded by Australian-born evangelist Neville Cooper in 1969, Gloriavale follows its own fundamentalist interpretation of the New Testament. The principles of sharing and holding all things in common are at the centre of the group’s philosophy, as well as strictly abiding by God’s commandments.…

Inside Gloriavale: The official story

March 27, 2017: | Newsroom | Morgan Tait | Allegations of physical and sexual abuse, forced marriage, forced separation of families and a controlling environment at the Gloriavale religious community sparked an 18-month investigation by the New Zealand Government. Now, Newsroom’s Morgan Tait can exclusively reveal what the Department of Internal Affairs’ investigation found out…

Woman slams ‘negligent’ TV2 documentary A Woman’s Place

August 16, 2016: | NZ Herald | A woman with family ties to the controversial Gloriavale community has spoken out about a TV2 documentary she calls “exploitative and negligent”. In an opinion piece written for The Phantograph Punch, Melissa Harrison said the “irresponsibly soft” doco glossed over the problems residents and ex-residents of Gloriavale had…

Amanda Evans: When your Gloriavale reality is not mine

August 16, 2016: | NZ Herald | Amanda Evans | Amanda Evans has directed and produced three top-rating Gloriavale documentaries for TVNZ. Here she responds to criticism from one former resident of the South Island religious community that the documentaries don’t dig deep enough. Having read Melissa Harrison’s criticism of Gloriavale – A…

Gloriavale teen Prayer Ready died choking in isolation room

August 15, 2016: | NZ Herald | Nikki Preston | A 14-year-old girl with Down syndrome died choking on a piece of meat in Gloriavale Christian Community while shut in an isolation room. Prayer Ready was in an isolation room with the door handles disabled to prevent people getting in and out when…

The Pantograph Punch – Gloriavale: The Other Side, From the Inside

August 15, 2016: By Melissa Harrison – The Pantograph Punch – 15/08/2016 Melissa Harrison writes on the irresponsibly soft treatment TV has afforded to the South Island cult her family escaped. I can recall various junctures throughout my life when a flurry of Gloriavale documentaries and articles would be splattered across our TV…