New Zealand commune's trust loses charity status over child labour, abuse
New Zealand's Charities Registration Board has revoked the charitable status of the Gloriavale commune's trust for three years over child labour and other misconduct.
The charitable arm of a secluded New Zealand religious commune has lost its tax-exempt status after an investigation concluded that its funds facilitated serious wrongdoing, including child labour and the suppression of sexual crime reporting.
Gloriavale, a conservative Christian sect, occupies a large ranch on New Zealand's South Island. Around 600 people live there on land held by the Christian Church Community Trust, working as volunteers in the trust's various businesses.
The Charities Registration Board announced on Tuesday that the trust's charitable registration would be cancelled for three years starting September 23. In a statement, the board said the trust's funding allowed the community "to operate in ways found to be unlawful and inconsistent with the wellbeing of trust beneficiaries."
Pressure to strip the group's charitable status intensified after its former leader, Howard Temple, was convicted in 2025 of sexually abusing girls and women aged between 9 and 20 over two decades. Temple, 85, also a former charity trustee, has been barred from charity governance roles for five years. His prison sentence for sexual offences was overturned in March and he is now serving home detention.
The board's decision referenced a landmark 2022 employment court ruling that former members had been unpaid employees of the trust's businesses rather than volunteers. That ruling found children as young as six working full-time, and workers enduring harsh and sometimes dangerous conditions, forced labour, food deprivation and public shaming. The board also pointed to the failure to report sexual offences against a child at Gloriavale's school, which the trust owns.
Religious trusts in New Zealand are seldom stripped of charity status over organisational practices rather than administrative or financial issues. "The Board recognises the right of the community to exist as a religious minority within a free and democratic society," said board chair Jane Wrightson. "The Board regulates the Trust, not the community, and this decision does not determine the future operation of this religious community."
The trust had objected on grounds including the historical nature of the wrongdoing and the consequences for hundreds of people, including "children, the elderly and the infirm." It also cited significant governance and safeguarding reforms in recent years. The board, however, said the seriousness, scale and duration of the misconduct made deregistration in the public interest.
The decision follows the Ministry of Education's move weeks earlier to revoke the registration of the sect's school and pursue its closure over concerns for students' physical and emotional safety. The school, with about 80 students, remains open while legal processes continue.
Gloriavale has long drawn fascination and concern in New Zealand. Founded in the 1970s, the sect is largely cut off from the outside world. Members pool their money, live in trust-owned buildings, shun relatives who leave, and work or study within the commune. Women and girls wear navy ankle-length dresses with white headdresses. Large families are expected, and only men hold leadership roles.
The sect came under scrutiny during a wider official inquiry into decades of abuse at New Zealand's state and religious institutions. The final report, published in 2024, found Gloriavale had for decades barred members from reporting crimes to outside authorities and included former members' accounts of physical and sexual abuse.
The trust's income derives from businesses including large-scale farming and a charter flights company, as well as government funding for its school and daycare centres. The full impact of losing charitable status, which also removes tax-exempt privileges, remains unclear. Gloriavale's latest financial returns, filed in July 2025, listed one full-time employee and 23 volunteers, with trust assets totalling NZ$50 million ($29 million).
The group can appeal the board's decision. A Gloriavale spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.