Earlier this year, I heard whispers about issues about a Dunedin charity that included resignations, allegations of a toxic workplace and conflicts of interest.
That information, my source said, should be contained in official audit reports.
Challenge accepted.
I get a few of these sorts of tips. Sometimes the person supplying the information can be motivated over a grievance so you need to do your due diligence.
The report(s) would be critical.
So on May 9, I filed an Official Information Act request to the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) seeking reports connected to Ōcasa Dunedin.
If you haven’t heard of Ōcasa, it stands for Ōtepoti Collective Against Sexual Abuse, although its legal title remains Rape Crisis Dunedin. It provides support services to those impacted by rape and/or sexual abuse, and no-one will deny that is a worthwhile service for those affected.
On August 19, I got a document dump from the Ministry, a dozen reports saying almost next to nothing. And certainly no issues about “resignations, allegations of a toxic workplace and conflicts of interest”.
Story was possibly dead. Or was it?
The original MSD letter mentioned reports not released as they were “out of scope”, which was odd because I requested all of the reports.
Anyhoo, I later filed another OIA chasing those reports, which just so happened to be compiled by Te Kāhui Kāhu, which undertakes social services accreditation.
I got those reports on Thursday and read them over the weekend. Certainly worth a story.
And here it is.
A scathing report on Rape Crisis Dunedin raises concerns over management, including bullying, conflicts of interest, and a toxic work environment.
Allegations from some of the registered charity’s current and former staff were sent to Te Kāhui Kāhu in February 2022.
It comes after a claim that 15 people had resigned from the organisation over the last year.
The second of the released reports notes that charity was assessed for ten accreditation standards, meeting one and with nine partially met.
I’d like to note that is a drop compared to the 2019 accreditation, which recorded the charity as meeting eight of the ten, and partially meeting the remaining two.
This is where it starts to get interesting. Page six of the 29-page report refers to:
“an ill-defined organisational structure, inadequate employment practices, and poor leadership resulting in what was described as a ‘toxic’ workplace culture leading to an organisational inability to fulfil its role”.
On April 1, the Ōcasa management committee emailed a reply to Te Kāhui Kāhu over the concerns raised, noting that the organisation had moved from a collective style structure - supported largely by volunteers - to a “professional, improved service and organisation with a more conventional model of governance”.
That process involved “trial and error”.
The Te Kāhui Kāhu report noted there was evidence that staff had raised concerns, including alleged bullying, with the management committee failing to investigate.
A heavily redacted part of the report referred to “the inherent conflict of interest”.
Te Kāhui Kāhu also raised concerns about Ōcasa’s management committee, including having no policies or procedures for taking a disciplinary action against a management committee member.
A review of the committee’s minutes revealed a record of the meeting was signed by a person who was not present at the meeting, while members were unsure about the correct quorum for a meeting.
A former employee told me that the organisation had “no hierarchy, but Chrissy was clearly in charge”.
That person was committee member Christine Thomas, who was understood to be also part of the committee that appointed her to the role of crisis co-ordinator.
Thomas’ fellow committee members include Bill Clark, understood to be in a relationship with Thomas, and with whom concerns have been raised that he did not undergo vetting.
That was a potential concern given the sensitive cases and files the organisation held, a former employee told me.
Furthermore alarm bells were raised on her first day at Ōcasa, when Thomas espoused various conspiracy theories about the vaccine, and the Government’s involvement.
“I came away thinking what have I done.”
She was warned by a former staff member about issues with the charity’s governance, after the appointment of Clark to the committee in 2021.
Thomas was approached for comment on Wednesday afternoon, and said she was not the person to be contacted.
“That has been delegated to our operations co-ordinator.”
I wasn’t given a name or a phone number, just an email that she had to double-check to see if it still worked.
I told her I was happy to talk on the phone (always the preference), but fired off some questions and a fast-approaching deadline (3pm).
An email, sent by the unsigned management committee, was received just before 3pm.
It did not back down. Instead it hit out. These are the answers:
Q. The report refers to allegations of a toxic culture, bullying, conflicts of interest, how do you respond?
A. There was no toxic culture promulgated by management, and no conflicts of interest mentioned in TKK’s report were undeclared. (Refer to response attached and apology from TKK also attached).
(As an aside, I read the attached. It included an apology from TKK about a line of questioning and also included a response from Ōcasa saying it categorically refutes any suggestion their crisis co-ordinator instigated, promulgated or executed any toxic culture of bullying in the workplace. That apology pre-dates the actual report.)
The email to me also said that “Six people have variously taken up new employment or otherwise exited their employment with Ōcasa in the past 12 months”.
The email also states that Christine Thomas was appointed crisis co-ordinator in a temporary capacity by the operations manager in 2020 and continued on in that role until it was made permanent by the committee in late 2021.
Asked about her relationship with fellow committee member Bill Clark, and whether he was vetted, the email replied: “There are long standing friendships between some staff and all of our staff have undergone legally required and appropriate vetting procedures”.
And it added:
“We have every confidence in our on-going ability to support those in need of our services and as a healthy organisation we are constantly evolving and developing our practice.”
Again, I’d like to stress that many charities do a great job and run on the smell of an oily rag, as demands often exceed what they can deliver.
But accountability is an important part of the procedure, and it is good to see that whistleblowers can raise concerns and that we have proper mechanisms in place to monitor those concerns.
As an aside, according to the charity’s latest annual return, Ōcasa employed six full-time staff and three part-time staff, and had a total revenue of $963,000, that was up from $356,802 in 2019.
You can read more on the charity here.
If you know anymore feel free to email me at hamish.mcneilly@stuff.co.nz.
And here is my Tweet of the Week:
I’ve lived in Dunedin since 2008 (not counting my feral years as a student), and am ashamed to say I have never been to Quarantine Island.
My colleague visited last year, the video is stunning.
I’ve got to go. I mean, look at these prices: The suggested donation for the Lodge is $20 per adult, $15 for tertiary students and $12 for school-aged children per night. There is an additional Family Concession of $50 (2 adults, 2 school-aged children).
And prices (each way) for the boat charter:
$15 per adult and $8 per child, each way between Portobello/Quarantine Island and Back Beach, Port Chalmers.
$18 per adult and $12 per child, each way between Portobello and Careys Bay.
Bikes $6-$10 each
Dogs $6 each, each way (dogs must be kept on outer deck on a short leash).
There are plenty of events on in Dunedin this weekend. One I would recommend is at the Dunedin Ice Stadium for the men’s North v South ice hockey match on Saturday.
If you’ve never watched ice hockey, apart from the Mighty Ducks, this might be for you.
On Sunday we have the Santa Parade (from 3pm). The location is George St, I wonder which block will be the most popular for viewing?
I spotted a cool wee programme at the very excellent Caversham cafe, Kūkū Coffee Ōtepoti, called Read Share Grow, which delivers books for children in South Dunedin.
We are also entering party season. I was pleased to read that the good guys at Know Your Stuff NZ will be in Dunedin testing drugs to ensure people have a good time, not a shit time.
They will be in Dunedin on December 2 from 5:30pm - 8:30pm at Synergy Wellness, Kaikorai Valley Road, and again at the same venue on December 16.
Know Your Stuff NZ’s harm reduction work is supported by health services, NGOs and police. It shows how far we have come as a country that we aren’t locking up people for recreational drugs like we used to.
And if you want something entertaining to do, you could try to go and watch Dartz play at The Crown on Thursday.
The story behind the band is as good as their music is catchy. Their back catalogue includes memorable songs such as 1 OUTS CAPTAIN COOK, Hoons and Toyota Corolla.
But my fave is this - I bet you recognise the guitar, the chorus, and one of the best cameos:
And ICYMI, the story of mine that went a bit crazy this week was this.
Chris Burgess has been documenting the case in a series of tweets over the last two years as his ‘parkup crush’. Brilliant.
Have a great week, and keep those tips flowing.