An advocate for Gloriavale leavers says it is a "bittersweet" feeling after the religious community's trust was stripped of its charitable status following a lengthy campaign.
Yesterday, the Christian Church Community Trust lost its charitable status after regulators found it helped support unlawful practices within the community.
It also saw former leader Howard Temple - a convicted sex offender - being banned from holding charity governance roles for five years.
The religious community holds at least $47 million in net assets, owning almost all of Gloriavale's property, school buildings, childcare centres, and shares in eight community companies including an airline.
Gloriavale's submissions were ultimately unsuccessful, and the Board decided to strip the Trust of its charitable status.
Former leader Howard Temple's been barred from holding governance roles in other charities. (Source: 1News)
Speaking to Breakfast from Hawaii, advocate Liz Gregory from the Gloriavale Leavers' Support Trust said hearing the news was "kind of bittersweet".
"Multiple petitions, visits to government, a lot of people, hundreds of hours of leavers telling their stories, and I'm just not sure what's wrong with the review process that it's taken so long to get here," she said.
Gregory said it had "taken a long time" for this change to occur.
"It was one of those poignant moments when you look back, reflect and wonder why it took so long. It's always hard to express those feelings because you know some of the pain people went through in those intervening years."
Asked why she thought the proceedings took more than a decade, Gregory said that would hopefully be answered in the next year or so.
"The slavery proceedings are going to the High Court, and charity services, along with other government departments, are being sued by leavers in order to dig down and find out exactly what has gone wrong.
"There's no accountability here. Gloriavale are allowed to reapply in three years' time, they'll bide their times through appeals and whatnot potentially.
"[But] I think the biggest impact is obviously they don't get to have the benefit of tax-free status anymore. So there will be an immediate impact from today," she explained.
She said the organisation would have to pay tax for three years before applying again, which would "have an impact on them".
"But they've been preparing for this. This is no surprise to them. They've had 10 years warning to readjust. to rearrange their business affairs, which they've been doing in that time," Gregory said.
Despite the findings around worker and child welfare issues, Gloriavale itself can continue operating as a religious community.
Today's decision comes just weeks after the Ministry of Education announced it had cancelled Gloriavale's registration as a private school and pressed on with plans to close the school.
The Trust has been approached for comment.
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