[See: http://archive.teacherscouncil.govt.nz/rt/onlineregister.stm Reg. No. 177105. Mr Shepherd's teacher registration was eventually cancelled and he was placed under "censure" after he was sentenced to a jail term of eight years and four months in September 2010. Just over two-and-a-half  years later he is now up for a parole hearing -reported two days ago 20/05/2013].

Stuff News reported on 31 July 2010, after a name suppression order for the sex offender was lifted:

“The sexual encounters between Elvis Dobson Shepherd and two teenage boys occurred while he was teaching and living at Hato Petera College, a Maori Catholic boarding school on the North Shore.

“The 49-year-old, [also known as Tihirau Shepherd], who identifies as bisexual, was also a student at the school before returning to teach te reo Maori in an experimental total immersion unit in 1989.”

The Herald on Sunday report stated:

“Elvis Dobson Shepherd was found guilty of four indecent assault charges against two teenagers in the High Court at Palmerston North on Friday [30 July 2010].

“The offences took place while Shepherd was teaching at Hato Petera College, a Maori Catholic boarding school on Auckland’s North Shore.

“Shepherd found employment at Maori boarding school Hato Paora near Palmerston North despite allegations of sexual encounters with boys at his previous post.

“Former Hato Petera trust board member Ashley Balls said Shepherd ‘deserted his post’ before the allegation was properly investigated. He then became deputy principal of Hato Paora in Feilding in 2002.

“Balls said he called Hato Paora to warn them about Shepherd’s past when he found information about the incident in the school files years later.

“But Hato Paora took no action and in 2007 two students came forward with allegations of sexual abuse. The school investigated, but found there was no case to answer.

“However, the Ministry of Education suspended Shepherd in November 2007.

But Balls said it was “odd” that the Teachers Council still had Shepherd listed on full registration. Balls described the situation as “political correctness gone mad”.

” ‘They couldn’t take the complaint to the Teachers Council because they hadn’t got anything provable’.

“Minister of Education Anne Tolley said she had complete confidence in the processes that would be followed by the Teachers Council to ensure Shepherd was never allowed in a classroom again. She said the Government also recently introduced much greater protection by passing data-matching laws which would mean this man would be identified if he ever sought employment at a school.

“In June, the Herald on Sunday revealed that three teachers who were sacked or quit over misconduct were still registered to teach on the official database that was supposed to warn parents and schools. The teachers kept their legal right to work in a classroom despite complaints to the New Zealand Teachers Council.”

Source:

Sex offender still registered on teacher website.

Sunday Star Times. 1 August 2010

Story by Anna Rushworth.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10662768

Fairfax NZ Media

School Principle molested students

Story by Bronwyn Torrie. 31 July 2013

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/3978623/School-principal-molested-students

The review proposes either creating a new independent body, or improving the present council to one that provides better leadership and support.

Teachers may also be subject to more regular assessments of their teaching competency, and see more emphasis placed on professional training.

The Teachers Council is an autonomous Crown entity that sets the standards for teachers and governs issues such as disciplinary action.

A review was instigated in 2010, taking into account 177 submissions, interviewing individuals and groups from throughout the education sector, considering New Zealand and international research, and looking at similar professional bodies in the health, legal, and engineering sectors.

Education Minister Hekia Parata said the council in its current structure, governance and position “can’t effectively set and enforce standards for entry, progression and professional accountability with the full support of the profession”.

“It lacks a distinctive brand or effective public voice.”

The report makes 24 recommendations within four key themes: a new professional body, the regulatory framework for teachers, the disciplinary framework, and resourcing to support a strong, professional body.

It recommends clearer separation between becoming registered as a teacher and the issuing of practising certificates, which certify the ongoing competence of teachers.

The “authority to practise teaching should be renewed regularly, as with current practising certificates”, and the review also endorses a move to postgraduate entry for school teachers.

The amount of council fees paid by teachers could also change, with its increased responsibilities.

It also recommends that, in addition to the current Limited Authority to Teach, a broader Authority to Educate be introduced to allow individuals with proven expertise to complement the teaching workforce.

A Ministerial Advisory Group has been appointed to lead consultation with the sector and the public on the proposals over the next two months.

The Teachers Council welcomed the opportunity to “constructively engage” on the possibility of becoming an independent professional body. It would be discussed at its council meeting at the end of this month.

Chairwoman Alison McAlpine said it would support qualified and registered teachers through greater professional learning opportunities.

“The 177 submissions received from the teaching profession and education sector strongly endorse a move for the Teachers Council to become an independent statutory body.”

New Zealand Educational Institute president Judith Nowotarski said the council needed strengthening and the union had been “keen on [an independent body] for some time”.

It was important the body “should be run by teachers, for teachers”, in the same way the medical council was run, she said.

Post Primary Teachers’ Association president Angela Roberts said there were contradictions in the review, such as the fact it called for a more professional body, despite wanting to create a new category of unqualified teacher.

“There are some really simple hypocrisies. I absolutely believe that they need to become independent of the Government.”

Source: The Dominion Post. Tuesday, 21 May 2013. p. A2.

Story by Jody O’Callaghan

On-line story

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/education/8695818/Teachers-Council-deemed-ineffective-review

Fairfax NZ Media

Elvis Dobson Shepherd, 52, was found guilty on two counts of sexual violation by oral sexual connection and two counts of indecent assault while he was teaching and living at Hato Petera College, a Maori Catholic boarding school on Auckland’s North Shore, in the early 1990s.

At the time of his sentencing in 2010, Shepherd was principal of Feilding’s Hato Paora College and was promoted to the position despite warnings from Hato Petera.

He was also charged with sexual abuse against Hato Paora students, but two separate juries could not reach verdicts in relation to some of the charges while he was found not guilty of others.

When sentenced Shepherd’s continued lack of remorse and denial of the proven charges was noted.

In a parole decision released to The Dominion Post,  the board noted there were still “question marks” over Shepherd’s insight into his offending.

“For example, the psychologist referred to his limited empathy for the welfare of the victims and an overemphasis on meeting his own needs, which were said to have been likely to have precipitated the offending.”

A psychological assessment report put Shepherd’s overall risk at medium low, with reference made to a lack of capacity for relationship stability, and deviant sexual preferences.

But a comprehensive proposal put forward by Shepherd and his whanau, which involved him completing the SAFE Programme for sexual offenders while in the community had merit, it said.

However, the address put forward for Shepherd to reside at had not been put to probation for consideration so could not be considered.

The Parole Board postponed its hearing until August 1 so Shepherd’s whanau could organise a hui with probation, the SAFE network and other interested parties so discussion could take place about the release proposal and his acceptance of the offending.

Source:

Parole Board highlights abuser ‘question marks’

The Dominion Post. Tuesday May 21, 2013, p. A4. Story by Shane Cowlishaw

Online version

Fairfax NZ News

Earlier stories:

Jail for sex-abusing ex-Principal. By Bronwyn Torrie.  16/09/2010

Former Hato Paora principal Elvis Dobson Shepherd has been imprisoned for more than eight years for sexually abusing students at an Auckland school, yet he is still proclaiming his innocence.

The 49-year-old’s continued lack of remorse and denial of the proven charges was noted by Justice Robert Dobson in the High Court at Palmerston North yesterday.

Earlier this year, a jury found Shepherd guilty on two counts of sexual violation by oral sexual connection and two counts of indecent assault…

Justice Dobson said while Shepherd still denied the victims’ version of events, he accepted the essence of their evidence.

“I have to hold you accountable for the harm you have done to your victims and to the community.”…

The 49-year-old was sentenced to eight years and four months’ imprisonment in the High Court at Palmerston North yesterday for sexually abusing two teenage boys in the early 1990s.

His offending occurred while he was a teacher and dorm master at Hato Petera.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/4135298/Jail-for-sex-abusing-ex-principal

In an “extraordinary turn of events” his parole hearing has had to be delayed by the Board because of a threat it received from Swann’s unnamed main parole sponsor, a threat issued in an “extraordinary and inappropriate” letter, according to the Boad.

Board convenor Judge Michael Crosbie said the supporter, who was present for Swann’s parole hearing last Tuesday [14 May], had written to the board since the hearing.

The letter contained “a threat to take and fund judicial review proceedings if Mr Swann does not receive an outcome favourable to him”.

Judge Crosbie said it would be wrong to ignore the letter.

“It is both extraordinary and inappropriate for a prisoner or supporter to write a letter … pending a decision,” he said.

Judge Crosbie said Swann had perpetrated a fraud involving “a serious and cynical breach of trust”.

However, the supporter’s letter had objected to the board conducting any analysis of Swann’s risk.

For full story go to:

Parole Delayed for Swann. 8.45 PM, Monday, May 20, 2013

By Matthew Backhouse

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10884944

Threatening letter delays parole hearing

Story by Wilma McCorkindale.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/8693980/Threatening-letter-delays-parole-hearing

Fairfax NZ News

The reasons included: “The defendant consents to the withdrawal of charges.”

[Sunday Star Times 19/05/13]

The American, Terry Hay, attracted the attention of the National Enforcement Unit (NEU) of the Companies Office after one of his former businesses became embroiled in allegations a fictitious liquidator was used during a debt dispute.

The allegations were never tested in court, and now won’t be. The Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, which took over the unit’s duties, this year dropped an arrest warrant and 22 charges it had laid against Hay under the Crimes Act and Companies Act, including one charge of “carrying on a business fraudulently.”

Honolulu-based Hay is a major shareholder in the ultimate parent company of New Zealand – based flight catering Pacific Flight Catering, which supplies in -flight catering to several airlines including China Southern Airlines and Cathay Pacific.

He could not be reached for comment on the case last week.

The case began when a former Hay company supplying fruit for in-flight meals, Fresh Prepared, ran up a $64,000 legal bill to two Auckland barristers. When the bill remained unpaid, the barristers, Clayton Luke and Richard Harrison, tried to have the company wound up but before that hearing occurred, Fresh Prepared was put into voluntary liquidation in January 2007.

The liquidator was a Babubhai Patel of Patel & Patel, whose Auckland mailing address was PO Box 53002, the same mailbox used by Fresh Prepared.

The move led the barristers to hire private investigator Grace Haden to probe Patel’s identity.

After an application was made in the High Court claiming the appointment of the liquidator was a sham, Leading Associate Judge Jeremy Doogue said: “There is a serious question as to whether or not Mr Patel actually exists.”

However, further liquidation documents were filed under the name Patel and Fresh Prepared was duly struck off in June 2010. It is understood the barristers had reached a confidential settlement with the company.

Nevertheless an investigation had led the NEU to believe Patel was not real and it charged Hay and his business partner Lynn Pryor, a former director and shareholder of Fresh Prepared. Pryor pleaded guilty to one charge of carrying on business fraudulently and was fined $18,000 and banned as a company director until July 2015.

Sentencing Pryor, Judge Josephine Bouchier said it was quite clear that “as a result of a debt owed to lawyers, Mr Haye [sic] who controlled the company’s accounts, embarked upon a systematic course of action to deregister the company to try to avoid that debt… It appears then however, that Mr Haye [sic] has not stayed around to face the music himself.”

An OIA request from Haden produced the following reasons why the ministry dropped charges against Hay.

There were six relevant factors behind the decision, said the ministry. These included that the victims had been compensated in full; that medical evidence confirmed the defendant suffered depression at the time of the alleged offending and had had ongoing psychological problems and serious health issues.

Another factor considered relevant was that “the defendant consents to the withdrawal of the charges.”

Haden has written to Attorney-General Chris Finlayson protesting against the decision.

Source:

Ministry opens up on case against US man. Sunday 19 May 2013.

Story by Rob Stock – a  finance journalist in the Fairfax Business Bureau and money editor of Sunday Star-Times.

Fairfax NZ News

He described the 32-month probe into Hanover Finance as “by far the most extensive and challenging of the finance company investigations undertaken by SFO”.

It was an investigation that consumed 12,700 man hours, the analysis of 107,000 pages of documents, and 3730 gigabytes of data. Fifty-four interviews were conducted and 30 transactions reconstructed.

After all of that, no charges were laid.

McArley betrays no signs of disappointment at that outcome. It’s now over to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) to pursue civil action on behalf of investors.

And the one-time chef has other fish to fry.

As the investigation and prosecution of finance companies and their directors winds down, the SFO is aiming to get ahead of any emerging trouble and deliver real deterrence to anyone tempted to take the easy route to riches.

A lawyer by training and practice, with over 18 years as a Kensington Swan partner, McArley effectively dropped out in 2003, heading to AUT to complete a degree in culinary arts.

“The time had come to leave the firm. I didn’t need to do it any more,” he says.

He went on to wield the saucepan in anger at Lorne St, Auckland, restaurant Winos and at the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron, between stints at the NZX, where he was acting head of regulation.

The food was good, if he says so himself, but the work was hard.

“It’s very hard work, physically as well as intellectually,” McArley says.

While there may not be complex problem solving involved, McArley says cheffing requires someone who can negotiate “critical paths” to deliver what is ordered at high quality in short timeframes, in an ever-changing environment.

When McArley broke his leg skiing he realised his goose was cooked.

An interest in law enforcement and regulation led to an investigations job at one of the FMA’s predecessor organisations, the Securities Commission, covering a vacancy. McArley set to work on his first finance company investigations and prosecutions, something that has dominated the regulators’ attention ever since.

But the Securities Commission was in Wellington and McArley, while being a Victoria University graduate, lived in Auckland. The travel was taxing.

Back then there was a familiar face heading the SFO in Adam Feeley. McArley had crossed paths with him when Feeley worked at the Companies Office. So when Feeley tapped him to join the Auckland-based SFO in mid-2010, he jumped at the chance. Just over two years later, when Feeley left to head the Queenstown Lakes District Council, McArley stepped up to the acting chief executive role.

The appointment of a permanent chief executive is in the hands of State Services Commission and has not yet been advertised.

“I’m waiting for the advertisement before I make a firm decision on whether I’ll apply,” McArley says.

In the meantime, he’s keen to see the Hanover announcement is taken in context.

The SFO has now finished investigations into 15 failed finance companies, nine of of which led to criminal prosecutions, and seven of those to convictions. In all, 23 people faced charges and a few “outliers” have yet to appear.

“I’m proud of what we have achieved and it’s not all we’ve done in that time,” McArley says.

Fo an office with a relatively small staff, about 50, he was surprised how the SFO managed to keep the momentum of the finance company investigations going.

Commercial prosecutions are difficult, time-consuming and complex, just to unravel the transactions. On top of that, as with other criminal cases, intent has to be proved.

“You have to show what was happening in the heads of the people involved. They rarely write it down.”

Even when you think you have done that, a judge can disagree.

McArley said with steep penalties come high standards of proof. If criminal penalties were all that was available, there would be no remedy for many wronged investors. That’s where civil action comes in.

“You need a full suite and agencies to deliver those in their own ways,” he says.

Civil cases are pending against several finance companies and their directors, including the one filed by the FMA against Hanover directors and promoters Mark Hotchin, Eric Watson, Greg Muir, Sir Tipene O’Regan, Bruce Gordon and Dennis Broit, relating to statements made in company prospectuses and advertising.

McArley’s arrival at the SFO coincided with a change in the way financial and business regulators are dealing with the media. He concedes the Securities Commission, NZX and SFO all had a tradition of silence.

He once tried in vain to get hold of a copy of an NZX regulatory decision.

“It was a very closed thing,” he says.

The problem with that approach is it increases costs, and fails to engender confidence in the market.

“Fifty people in an office can’t capture every crime,” he says. “You need confidence in a market that there is an suitable deterrent there. It all goes to people’s confidence.”

McArley says because organisations can only control the flow of good news, not the bad, a lack of transparency will lead people to assume they are not doing the job. The news will be all bad.

“If you don’t engage with the media you will be known as the organisation that stuffs up all the time,” he says. “You have to build confidence and build a more effective economy by reducing the fear and cost of financial crime.

“That’s really why we engage.”

As a specialist in the worst kinds of financial crime, often complex financial crime, the services of the SFO do not come cheap, but it has 23 years of practices and procedures that it can roll out in its own investigations or, increasingly, to assist other agencies.

Now the office is thinking hard about what comes next and is already moving on.

It is broadcasting loud messages about the potential, and reality, of fraud in the rebuilding of Christchurch. Focus areas for the SFO there are procurement and general fraud, insurance fraud and investment fraud, as well as bribery, corruption and the payment of “backhanders”.

However, the SFO will pursue such cases anywhere and doing that will serve as a deterrent in Christchurch. It’s all about being there early to limit the damage.

“If you are going to intervene, it’s best to do it at the start than when you are finishing,” McArley says. “It’s best to find a $500,000 Ponzi scheme than a $500 million one.

“Early intervention is the key to reducing cost.”

However, it is also very hard to do. Detecting crime early is extremely difficult. If a regulator is transparent, even bullish, it will have a deterrent effect, McArley says.

Strong relations with other agencies are also on the agenda and turf wars a thing of the past, he says. Building such relationships are prominent in the SFO’s new Statement of Intent.

“We will be emphasising the needs to work with other agencies. We have no desire to be the sole prosecutors of financial crime.”

Agencies such as Police, Customs, the FMA, Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), Commerce Commission, the Ministry of Health, ACC and Immigration all have financial crime or fraud interfaces.

The SFO will focus on serious and complex cases, and every so often other agencies will need access to its resources, some “heavy hitting” as McArley describes it.

Cases can be handed over or joint operations can be launched, such as a recent proforma invoicing investigation with the Commerce Commission and other agencies called Operation Edit, and one with DIA, Operation Chestnut, over gaming revenue grants.

In both cases, the primary agencies identified regulatory and criminal matters. Those agencies and the SFO partnered and played to their own strengths.

McArley said the Government has sent strong messages that turf wars will not happen and will not be rewarded. Communications with the FMA, for instance, are “way, way” closer than in the days of the old Securities Commission, McArley says.

That has certainly been the case over investigations into South Canterbury Finance, Rockforte Finance and Belgrave Finance.

“We are working well together,” he says.

Meanwhile, IRD remains an outlier because it is not allowed to share information. SFO will provide information to IRD, but IRD can’t reciprocate.

However, a discussion paper now out could allow changes in that area.

“Our view is, confidentiality and privacy – yes, but not when there is a serious threat to the economy in bribery and corruption. There’s a case to lift some of that secrecy.”

McArley said financial crime and tax fraud “seem to be inexorably linked”. GST issues have been detected in a number of finance company cases, for instance.

But despite having what McArley describes as a “chequered record” on tax cases, the SFO is well placed to spot tax fraud and to share information with IRD – it has several ex IRD staff on its payroll.

Similarly, SFO has one staff member seconded to the New Zealand Police, while there are several police officers stationed in SFO’s offices.

“They’re so big and we’re so small, they are very supportive – as are Customs and IRD,” McArley says.

The SFO will also have to work harder and smarter to detect crime.

McArley has his own view of economic cycles – that there are no cycles of fraud. In his view, fraud is a steady percentage of GDP. What goes up and down is detection. During the global financial crisis, the tide went out and detection became much easier.

“Dirty washing was laundered in the sunlight,” he says.

That sudden transparency produced what looked like a bubble of financial crime.

In the absence of such a shock, detection will rely on whistleblowers and some form of intel analysis. But protection for whistleblowers is “variable”.

“It’s an activity we want to encourage because it is our best defence,” McArley says. “If we want to get on top of financial crime and minimise its impact, we need to encourage whistleblowers. I’m not sure how and it’s not part of SFO’s mandate.”

The SFO gets quite a few whistleblowers but they can end up in court, and that can be an “unpleasant and challenging process”.

As to how he spends his spare time, that’s simple: “What spare time?” he asks.

Source:

Story by Rob O’Neill

Whistleblowers welcome at SFO

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/8657607/Whistleblowers-welcome-at-SFO

Fairfax NZ News

See: http://www.spcs.org.nz/2012/safe-save-animals-from-exploitation-a-registered-charity-its-political-advocacy/

http://www.spcs.org.nz/2012/safe-save-animals-from-exploitation-a-registered-charity-demands-ban-on-rodeo-animal-abuse-industry/

In response to a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) by M. Burton, who described the SAFE advertisement as “appalling”, “emotive” and using “ cynical shock tactics” to influence vulnerable children, the ASA Board ruled (Decision 13/051) that the “images shown in the advertisement were emotive and may be distressing to some viewers”. Whilst it ruled that the advert did not exceed the limits of GXC classification guidelines, it noted that the Commercial Approval Bureau on behalf of Media classified it as “political advocacy advertising”.

The charity SAFE has only two “objects” in its Constitution and both were approved as “charitable” when it was registered as a charitable entity by the Charities Commission on 30 June 2008. They are:

(1) “raising awareness of the suffering, abuse and exploitation of animals” and

(2) “promoting education on human-animal relations”.

SAFE gained charity status on the basis of its “Advancement of Education”. However, it is well-documented and obvious to the public and media that one of its primary objects (deliberately unstated) is to change the law in relation to the treatment of farmed animals – and this involves it aggressively engaging in “political advocacy” campaigns that go much further than just raising awareness of a problem(s).

SAFE’S call for “STOPfactoryfarming” is a very different propaganda call to one that encourages farmers to merely modify their farming practices and comply with existing New Zealand law.

In its response to the ASA Board investigation, SAFE tried to defend its propaganda advert stating that its purpose was to:

“… inspire and empower people to TAKE ACTION ON BEHALF OF THESE ANIMALS. The TVC invites people to suspend belief – to believe in a world where animals can sing and pigs can fly, an END TO FACTORY FARMING is in fact possible” [Emphasis added].

Eliot Pryor and his team of political campaigners are so passionate about changing the law that they break the law to impose their beliefs on others. For example, blocking a roadway and preventing workers accessing Mainland Poultry in 2012, deprived other citizens of their rights to go about their lawful business. Such unlawful actions are the ‘bread-and-butter’ pursuits of Greenpeace activists and Greenpeace has so far been refused charity status based in part on its involvement in such activities.

On the positive side, registered charities are entitled under the Charities Act 2005 to engage in “political advocacy” if it advances one or more of its charitable purposes, provided the extent and degree of such advocacy is only ancilliary to its purposes.

In the case of SAFE’s advertising campaign and its officers’ protest actions that breached the law, such activities involving demands for changes in the law, are not signalled in any shape or form in the purposes of the charity.

Whilst not upholding the complaint from M. Burton, the ASA Board took the view that “the advocacy advertisement [engaged in by SAFE] was intended to raise awareness about the cruelty of caged animal farming”. However, it clearly went much further than that by pointing to its propaganda website “stopfactoryfarming.org.nz”. A careful analysis of the activities of SAFE (see: www.safe.org.nz) and its associated websites reveals that SAFE is an animal “rights” lobby group that perpetually advocates for a particular point of view and is intent on changing the law.

“Advocacy advertising” is a expression of opinion and is a desirable part of the functioning of a democratic society” (Principle 11 ASA Code of Ethics). However, in the case of SAFE, there appears to be nothing in its constitution that connects it with this charity’s perpetual advocacy of the view that the law on farming practices must be changed to prevent the alleged widespread “cruelty” and “torture” of animals in New Zealand.

Note: In another complaint against the advertisment from O.Turk (Decision No. 13/043 dated 21/02/13) the Chairman of the ASA ruled that there were “No Grounds to Proceed”, but did note that it constituted “advocacy advertising”.

NCWNZ lost its registration in 2010, one year after being first registered as a charity, due to its alleged political lobbying.

Timaru council president Avril Demetriades said they were shocked when they lost the charity status as they had not changed what they had been doing.

“We are not party political, we treat all governments the same and give them hell when we think they need it.”

She said all types of people benefited from NCWNZ’s work, not just women and children.

Its budget did not allow for an appeal against the deregistration at the time; instead it reapplied.

National president Elizabeth Bang said the successful reapplication was backed up by boxes of evidence on the organisation’s activities.

New Zealand was the first NCW in the world to be deregistered, which Mrs Bang said was quite ironic.

“We were the first country to give women the vote.”

She said it had been worth persevering as the lack of registration had affected the council badly, as it could not apply to trusts for funds without it and was dependent on membership fees only.

The organisation did not have a single focus as it had members who were far Left and far Right in their views and it would continue to make submissions on a variety of issues, Mrs Bang said.

“We have proven education, and public benefit and we are not for profit.”

NCW FACTS

Established in 1896 at a women’s convention in Christchurch with suffragette Kate Shepherd. Its aim is to serve women, family and community through research, information, representation and action. There are 23 branches throughout New Zealand, and about 4500 members. which includes those who do not belong to a branch

Source:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/8660208/NCW-a-charity-again-but-vows-to-keep-bite

Story by Esther Ash-Coventry. 11 May 2013

Fairfax NZ News

The National Business Review reports:

In November, Justices Rhys Harrison, Lyn Stevens and Doug White set aside the then-Charities Commission’s 2010 decision to decline the lobbyists’ charity status.

Greenpeace says whatever the outcome of the Supreme Court appeal, the bid for charity status will still need to be reconsidered.

The Court of Appeal judges referred the Greenpeace application back to the Charities Commission’s replacement – the Department of Internal Affairs and the Charities Registration Board for reconsideration.

In its finding, the Court of Appeal said the organisation’s political advocacy needs to be “truly ancillary” to its principal charitable objectives.

The lobby group’s political involvement was central to the then-Charities Commission’s refusal to grant the application.

Back in 2010, the commission found:

• Two of Greenpeace’s objectives – promoting “peace” and “disarmament” – were political, not charitable.
• Greenpeace was involved in illegal activities, such as trespassing; therefore it was not maintained exclusively for charitable purposes as illegal purposes are not charitable.

In its decision, the commission also referred to a number of mission statements on the Greenpeace website, including:

• We are actively campaigning for international disarmament.
• We believe greater peace, greater security, greater safety is possible. Reaching out across national boundaries Greenpeace is working with citizens and political leaders around the world to make this happen.

In order to be registered as a charity an organisation must be established and maintained exclusively for charitable purposes. Political purposes are not charitable purposes.

An organisation may, however, be registered as a charity if it has a political purpose so long as the political purpose is ancillary to the charitable purposes of the organisation and is not an independent purpose.

A date has yet to be set for the Supreme Court hearing.

Source:

Political Greenpeace unhappy with charity win – wants more

By Blair Cunningham. Monday March 11, 2013

http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/political-greenpeace-unhappy-charity-win-wants-more-bc-137076

See Court of Appeal Ruling:

http://www.charities.govt.nz/assets/docs/registration/judgments/GreenpeaceNZIncmediarelease.pdf

“The National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ) is absolutely delighted that it has
regained its rightful place on the charities register,” National Council of Women of New Zealand
(NCWNZ) President Barbara Arnold said today.

Barbara Arnold was commenting on the decision of the Board of the Charities Commission to
reinstate NCWNZ as a registered charity, after deregistering it in August 2010.

“It has taken 32 months of hard work and considerable anxiety to have the 2010 decision
reversed. We are especially grateful to Sue Barker Charities Law, without whose hard work we
simply would not have been able to achieve this outcome,” Barbara Arnold said.

“We always knew the Commission’s original decision was wrong. The fact that NCWNZ was alone

among other national councils of women throughout the world in being a non registered charity

was a telling factor in itself.

“However the work involved in overturning the decision has been significant. We feel for other
charities which may be forced to accept an adverse decision because they do not have the
resources to challenge it. We need to ask as a community whether the system we have in place for
challenging decisions of the charities regulator is working for us as a country.

“In the 117 years since its establishment, NCWNZ has worked tirelessly for the betterment of
women, the family and the community. This decision puts NCWNZ back where it belongs as a
registered charitable entity and allows us to get on with what we have been doing for over a
hundred years and what we aim to continue doing for many more,” Barbara Arnold said.

ENDS

For more information contact:
Elizabeth Bang
Immediate Past President NCWNZ

http://www.ncwnz.org.nz/assets/Uploads/NCWNZ-wins-back-charitable-status.pdf

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1304/S00239/ncwnz-wins-back-charitable-status.htm