Destiny Church's Brian Tamaki has responded to the Government refusing to fund his Man Up programme, saying they must feel "threatened".
The self-proclaimed bishop wants Government funding to deliver his Man Up programme in prisons, but Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis told Newsroom on Monday that won't happen.
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Davis said Man Up had never followed the proper application process to receive Government funding, and wasn't convinced that the information Tamaki provided about the Man Up programme was verified or sufficient.
Tamaki responded, telling Magic Talk the Government "seems to be in a discriminatory mode and does not want to in any way cooperate or fund it and no good reason why".
"If Kelvin opens his eyes and has a good look at this, if it's about stats and proving our stats, our stats are provable, but his stats are terrible, atrocious," Tamaki said.
"He can't talk about our stats until he cleans up the bad stats of incarceration of our people."
Tamaki, 61, also responded to Finance Minister Grant Robertson ridiculing him on social media, pointing to hypocrisy in a tweet posted by Tamaki's wife, Hannah.
"I think because of the amount of focus and attention put our way, they must feel threatened about our programme or something," Tamaki said.
His 15-week Man Up programme claims to help "dysfunctional" men with a record of violent offending and addiction by rehabilitating them to re-enter society after prison.
"We thought that it could be better if we could fund or at least have a share of that funding that they give to most of their programmes which are lagging in a lot of ways, according to statistics of incarceration rates."
Tamaki marched on Parliament in December last year with about 2000 supporters, where he told the crowd the Government was ignoring him "after all my efforts".
But Davis has questioned the integrity of Destiny Church and where the money would go if it received funding. He told Newsroom: "I don't believe the money would go where they say it would go."
Asked if there has been an impartial audit of the Man Up programme, Tamaki said it's available on the website – which Magic Talk host Sean Plunket pointed out would suggest it's not impartial.
Tamaki said he's invited the Government "many times" to audit the programme, and claimed the Government is discriminating against his Pentecostal Christian organisation.
Tamaki has been outspoken against the Government, last week taking aim over the decision to push through gun reforms in the wake of the March 15 terror attack in Christchurch.
He also criticised Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for her decision to allow the broadcast of the Islamic call to prayer during a ceremony after the attack, claiming New Zealand's "national identity is at stake".
And while he's distanced himself from a Destiny Church demonstration outside Al Noor mosque in Christchurch last week, Tamaki said New Zealand needs to start "affirming our national identity" – insinuating Christianity's losing its dominance.
"They were just standing on the other side of the road, which is a public park, and just making a stand that this country of New Zealand is Christian."
Newshub.
