Destiny Church faces scrutiny as MP seeks charity status removal

Brian and Hannah Tamaki at the Auckland Domain following the 2024 “Make New Zealand Great Again” convoy. Photo / Sylvie Whinray

By Susan Edmunds of RNZ

Te Atatū MP Phil Twyford has written to the charities regulator asking for Destiny Church to be struck off.

About 30 adults and young children had to be barricaded into a room in a library in West Auckland last weekend when a group linked to Destiny Church tried to drown out a Pride Festival Event in Te Atatū.

Twyford’s formal complaint to Charities Services alleges the church engaged in wrongdoing.

“Destiny’s actions were certainly oppressive, which meets the definition of wrongdoing in the law, and so they should lose their tax deductible status,” he said.

“Destiny is in breach of the Charities Act. This organisation should not be receiving a cent of public subsidy through tax deductibility nor the stamp of approval that registration as a charity implies.”

Comment has been requested from Destiny Church.

Meanwhile, charities are required to file an annual return each year, which is published on the Charities Register.

But Destiny Church New Zealand Trust has not had any returns published since 2022.

Its regional branches have published theirs. Destiny Church Christchurch in February submitted that it had total income of $226,679 in the most recent financial year, and expenditure of $232,534.

Destiny Church Hamilton filed a return last year indicating it had income of $667,086 and expenditure of $660,171. Tauranga had income of $294,777 and expenditure of $272,249 and Whakatane $595,322 in income and $563,794 in expenditure.

Charlotte Stanley, director of Charities Services, said filing annual reports was an important legal obligation for all registered charities.

Labour MP Phil Twyford. Photo / Mark Mitchell

“We take failure to file these reports seriously, if an entity does not report for two consecutive years, they may be removed from the register.

“However, if an entity has filed their annual report but has outstanding actions, it is considered incomplete and will not appear on the public register until the outstanding action is rectified.

“We can confirm that Destiny Church NZ have filed annual reports post 2022 but currently have outstanding actions they need to address. In order to prioritise transparency for the public we are actively reviewing whether reports can be published for entities with outstanding actions.”

It is understood those actions relate to annual filing fees.

- RNZ

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