It was quite a shock when the New Zealand government announced that the Problem Gambling Foundation will lose its funding in June – but the organisation is not taking the situation lightly. This week, the group announced that it will take legal action against the Ministry of Health as the Problem Gambling Foundation aims to uncover the exact reasons why its funding has been pulled.
Last month, the Ministry of Health announced that over 75% of the Problem Gambling Foundation’s funding would go to the Salvation Army. It was quite a controversial decision, exacerbated by the fact that the government failed to provide an adequate reason for doing so. Things were made even worse when it was revealed that there were several conflicts of interest during the decision-making process.
Firstly, one of the panel members had worked for one of the counselling service provider while another failed to evaluate all potential providers. These biases were overlooked in the end. Now, the Problem Gambling Foundation aims to get to the bottom to the issue by taking the Ministry of Health to Court.
Chief executive Graeme Ramsey wants to know exactly why the Salvation Army has been chosen over the Problem Gambling Foundation, and hopes that the case will delay the transfer of its services. "We couldn't understand how they arrived at that decision given their process so we've looked really really hard at that, and still cant understand that decision, so we will be challenging that."
There is quite a lot on the line for the Problem Gambling Foundation. When the funding is transferred in June, over 60 professionals at the foundation will lose their jobs. There is also the possibility that the process cannot be reversed, so Mr Ramsey wants to do everything possible to delay it.
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