MENTAL TRUST CONCERNS
Ministry executive feared possible blowback for Govt if health funding allocated, writes Oliver Lewis
Ministerial advisers were briefed about potential reputational risks to the Government if officials offered $600,000 to a trust fronted by mental health campaigner Mike King.
The Key to Life Charitable Trust was awarded the money via the oneoff mental health and wellbeing innovation fund launched by the Ministry of Health last year.
The grant followed months of King lobbying the Government to provide funding to support youth counselling service Gumboot Friday.
The ministry has said the fund wasn’t created because of King.
Businessdesk has investigated the circumstances which led to the creation of the fund and how, because of its nature as a pilot, usual government tender processes didn't need to be followed.
One other organisation, Mates in Construction, was also offered $600,000.
Key to Life fundraises for, and runs, Gumboot Friday, a service connecting young people under 25 with free counselling.
In an email to ministerial advisers to Health Minister Andrew Little last August, ministry executive Robyn Shearer said: “The minister would
need to be aware of the optics of this, with two providers when many other charities would value the opportunity to seek funding.
“This may cause some reaction in the public arena.
“Mike King has stated publicly he would not accept government funding even if it was offered — the likelihood of negative communication and reputation for the Government may be high, given the communications that have been in the public arena.”
The email was initially withheld in response to an Official Information Act (OIA) request made by Businessdesk last August.
It was released last week, following a complaint to the ombudsman.
As Little explained in an accompanying letter, the information was no longer subject to a live procurement process and the decision-making period had ended.
Concerns flagged
In her email, Shearer also outlined concerns held by the ministry about Gumboot Friday.
“There are a number of concerns the ministry has about the way the service is offered – whether counsellors are associated with a professional body, ensuring safe follow-up is part of the programme support, understanding that counselling can be harmful – therefore screening for counselling is important, and parental consent,” she said.
“Addressing these concerns would be part of the assessment process. This may or may not be supported, as necessary, by Gumboot Friday and may also cause