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.

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