Gloriavale milk row: Christian community's dairy farms save Westland dairy contract, on condition no child labour used

Gloriavale's dairy farm operations have won a court battle to save a lucrative dairy contract. Photo / Kurt Bayer

Gloriavale's dairy farm operations have won a court battle to save a lucrative milk contract, on the condition they don't use any child labour.

Chinese-owned Westland announced in June it was stopping milk collection from the West Coast Christian community's farms after an Employment Court ruling about work conditions and alleged child labour.

Gloriavale's Canaan Farming Dairy Ltd is one of Westland's biggest milk suppliers, with the milk cheque from Westland exceeding $8 million per year.

Canaan filed for an injunction in the High Court at Greymouth, asking the court to compel Westland to honour the terms of its milk collection contracts with Canaan, specifically to require it to continue to collect milk from its three farms.

An interim injunction was granted and both parties agreed that Westland would continue to collect Canaan's milk until the court made a final ruling on the injunction.

The case has been argued at the High Court in Christchurch.

Now, Justice Jan-Marie Doogue has issued her judgment, ruling that Canaan's application for an interim injunction is granted.

It means that Westland will be required to collect the milk supply from Canaan's farms Bell Hill, Gloriavale and Glen Hopeful, pending further order of the court, subject to the condition that "Canaan not employ any minors or associate partners under the age of 18 on its farms pending determination of the substantive proceedings".

The judge found that the "balance of convenience lies overwhelmingly in favour of Canaan".

"The refusal of an injunction will have dire and immediate consequences for Canaan, which would include (but not be limited to) significant detriment to animal welfare, innocent members of the Gloriavale community and to third-party suppliers to Canaan," Justice Doogue wrote in the 50-page judgment.

A Westland Milk Products spokesman today acknowledged the High Court's decision.

"While our relationships with our suppliers are extremely important and based on mutual respect, our decision to suspend collection from Gloriavale was based on concerning employment and social issues identified by the courts," he said.

"We hope these issues will be resolved to the satisfaction of those who have been affected as well as our customers as we continue to defend the best interests of our business in any ongoing legal process."

Canaan's lawyer Richard Raymond KC earlier told the court that Westland's decision to stop milk collection came after the Employment Court ruling – but said Canaan had nothing to do with the proceeding and was not a party.

Raymond had said that no children had worked on the farms since at least 2017 – a submission he later apologised for, saying that new information before him had meant he had "inadvertently" misled the court.

The loss of a $9m a year contract would have been a "devastating if not fatal blow" for the community, the lawyer said earlier.

And in addition to the multiple government reviews in recent times, and "relentless attacks" by media and leavers, Raymond said that Gloriavale has spent more than $800,000 on reviews and reports on how the community and its businesses are run.