Mike King calls for the resignation of Ministry of Health Deputy Chief Executive Robyn Shearer for misleading the New Zealand public
Mental health advocate and I AM HOPE founder Mike King is calling for the resignation of Robyn Shearer, Deputy Chief Executive Officer at the Ministry of Health, for deliberately misleading the New Zealand public.
This week, King’s charity, Gumboot Friday, which provides free counselling for young people in New Zealand, submitted an application to the Ministry of Health under the Official Information Act, to obtain a copy of its “application for funding” that Shearer says “missed the deadline”.
In an online meeting to discuss funding options and processes last month, King’s representatives were told there would be no funding for Gumboot Friday.
The media later reported Robyn Shearer as saying Gumboot Friday was declined funding as the charity missed the funding application deadline.
“That’s news to us, because we never applied. We have never put an application forward. This is a complete fabrication to make me and my organisation look incompetent,” says King.
“Robyn Shearer has never seen my signature on an application because there isn’t one, it’s a made-up story and the OIA will prove that. I would love to know what the Minister of Health thinks about his officials lying to the New Zealand public and what he will do about it,” King says.
This year’s Gumboot Friday generated $943,000 which will provide for three months of free counselling services for young people in need.
To reach the charity’s $5 million goal, the team are considering a second Gumboot Friday event on November 5, if Mike King’s plea to New Zealanders in a video is shared 50,000 times on Facebook.
So what, if Robyn Shearer has said an untruth? She won’t be the last. She’ll be fine. Ashley will back her. There are myriad excuses available, such as her comment was a typo, or it was misspoken, or taken out of context, or a miscommunication, or out of date information, or incorrectly reported, or a computer glitch,
or a documentation mix up, or an inexperienced intern, etc. You’ll never get the truth here, only mumbo jumbo. The truth is that the officials were starting to feel the heat from Mike pointing out the lack of action on mental health, which then caused someone to have the brainwave, that his Gumboot Friday funding application got turned down because it was received too late, without bothering to first check if there was a funding application. Who ever had that brainwave might need to have their own mental health looked at.
Public servants who mislead, don’t fall on their swords for this stuff, even if they’ve done so under oath. Nothing happened to the NZ Army Generals caught trying to cover up Afghan war crimes. Nothing happened to the Police who planted evidence in the Crew murder case. Nothing happened to those at the Ministry of Health who gave Dr Leeks a glowing endorsement. It was all just, move along nothing to see here. If anything,
they went on to get promoted. And if any of the management of Pike River mine face charges in future,
it goes without saying that no one at MBIE, who were supposed to be keeping an eye on mining operations, will face anything similar. Cave Creek was another. All bureaucracy but no responsibility.
If nothing happens to public servants who cover up atrocities, such as electrocuting and torturing children entrusted to their care, then of course nothing will happen as a result of the Gumboot Friday untruth.
If they mislead about the Gumboot Friday application, would they mislead on torturing children too, or would they draw the line at that, or would they never draw the line? And if there is no repercussion to deceiving the public, then it will continue to be a go to option, for proactive reputation management. So more Lake Alice’s, or ignoring war crimes, or planting evidence, is ahead.
Do the Police who are still after Mr Thomas not feel the slightest hypocrisy, that they are going after an old man, yet they are not going after another old man Dr Leeks, who still lives independently in his community,
and has legal capacity? Oh but that’s right, Dr Leaks misdeeds were state funded. Such mental gymnastics could get a placing in the olympics.
If anyone else electrocuted and tortured children they would be in gaol. If public servants who deliberately mislead the public they serve, also went to gaol, would society be better or worse for it? And should those who signed off on the glowing endorsement of Dr Leeks, face any criticism, or do their signatures not matter? Should public servants be protected, against the repercussions of their actions, that harm the public?
Why even have new hate speech rules, if the tolerance for lying to the public remains?
According to some sources, there’s officially very little corruption in NZ. Just as there’s officially very little corruption in Nigeria, and those area boy chaps are honest also. But corrupt practices happen under our noses all the time, and only occasionally come to light. It could almost be a part of the policy.
Good on Mike for bringing this up. (thedailyblog.co.nz/2020/11/22/guest-blog-ross-meurant-corruption)
What am I missing here? If you haven’t applied 1/ you have literally missed the deadline 2/ why is there an expectation that you will get handed the money?
Sadly this has devolved into name calling, the only ones suffering are those that need help. Grandstanding by Mike King won’t help. Mike, take a deep breath (and a dose of your own excellent advice) think this through; Government Departments don’t respond well to people not prepared to follow due process – how can you claim they didn’t give you the money when you didn’t apply?
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