Mike King: A timeline of ups and downs in mental health

Mike King. Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly

Mental health campaigner Mike King is back in the headlines, this time for making controversial comments about alcohol in a radio interview.

The remarks have drawn criticism from other advocacy groups and prompted calls from Labour to halt government funding of King's Gumboot Friday counselling programme and I Am Hope charity.

Here is a timeline of King's many ups and downs advocating in the mental space over more than a decade.

May 2012 - King founds The Key to Life Charitable Trust to promote mental health and suicide prevention.

December 2015 - King is appointed to the Ministry of Health's Suicide Prevention External Advisory Panel to assist in drafting the country's Suicide Prevention Strategy.

May 2017 - King publicly steps down from the panel, denouncing its proposed plan as "window dressing" and a "masterclass in butt covering". Prime Minister Bill English says he's not surprised as King's direct style probably was not suited to the panel.

July 2017 - King addresses New Zealand First's election year conference, calling for a stocktake of the country's mental health services.

February 2019 - King named New Zealander of the Year.

April 2019 - King launches the annual Gumboot Friday initiative through his Key to Life charity to raise money for children's mental health.

June 2019 - King named Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to mental health awareness and suicide prevention during Queen's Birthday honours.

September 2019 - King attends Labour-NZ First coalition announcement of new Suicide Prevention Strategy, endorsing its new action plan.

Mike King with Dame Jacinda Ardern in 2019. Photo: RNZ / Dom Thomas

September 2019 - King's Gumboot Fund abruptly runs out of money after a "surge in uptake", prompting concern from counsellors and calls for government assistance.

October 2019 - King says the Ministry of Health has not been collaborative. He criticises officials for demanding his charity stop collecting suicide letters in the name of research.

November 2019 - The Health Ministry's ethics head requests Key to Life destroy the collected suicide notes, calling its 'research' unethical and warning of serious privacy and safety concerns.

November 2019 - King claims the Ministry of Health has declined his request for a "Gumboot Friday top-up". The Ministry of Health says it never received a request and stresses that proper procurement processes must be followed. Then-Health Minister David Clark suggests there's been a "breakdown in communication".

May 2021 - King sends an open letter to then-Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, declaring he will return his NZ Order of Merit medal as "the system is broken and it seems to our most vulnerable Kiwis and their families that no one is trying to fix it".

June 2021 - King hands back the NZOM medal in a public display of protest on Parliament's forecourt.

July 2021 - King says the Ministry of Health has again rejected a request for funding. The ministry says the charity did not apply in time. King disputes that.

August 2021 - The Labour government sets up a special one-off $1.2 million mental health innovation fund, of which half was allocated to the Gumboot Friday initiative. King posts his thanks on social media.

June 2022 - King tells The Platform the funding was still "sitting in the bank untouched". He later tells BusinessDesk that was incorrect: the first tranche of $300,000 had been spent on essential research and analytics. The charity had yet to decide how to spend the remaining $300,000. The ministry said that funding could be spent on organisation costs, but not counselling services.

August 2022 - BusinessDesk reveals health officials warned the minister of "potential reputational risks" surrounding the innovation funding and flagged concerns about the service.

November 2022 - King breaks down in tears during an interview on the Rock's Morning Rumble, saying the mental health system is "f***ed up and no one is doing anything about it".

May 2023 - The Key to Life Charitable Trust officially rebrands as I Am Hope Foundation.

October 2023 - National leader Christopher Luxon promises to fund Gumboot Friday in a seemingly off-the-cuff commitment during the Rock Breakfast show. NZ First campaigns on providing Gumboot Friday with $10 million over three years for free counselling services for young people.

November 2023 - The National-New Zealand coalition agreement is unveiled and includes a commitment to "fund Gumboot Friday / I Am Hope Charity to $6 million per annum".

Matt Doocey. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

May 2024 - Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and NZ First leader Winston Peters make a pre-Budget announcement, confirming a $24 million boost for the Gumboot Friday initiative over four years. Labour questions the procurement process. King hits back at "dickheads... throwing shit".

July 2024 - RNZ reveals health officials had to invoke a special 'opt-out' clause to ensure the government's funding of Gumboot Friday complied with contracting rules.

October 2024 - The auditor-general criticises the "unusual and inconsistent" procurement process around the government's funding of Gumboot Friday.

October 2024 - In a radio interview, Mike King says alcohol is "not a problem" for people who are mentally unwell and argues it has prevented more suicides than it has caused. Advocacy groups criticise the comments and Labour calls for an immediate pause in funding for his charity. Luxon and Doocey disavow the comments but defend funding the charity.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.