On New Zealand’s National Day of Remembrance for survivors of abuse in State care, a law firm that works with survivors says recent events have demonstrated how important it is to implement the findings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care (Royal Commission).

“The National Day of Remembrance was announced by the Prime Minister a year ago, when he made a public apology to, what he referred to as, ‘treasured survivors’. This apology was recommended by the Royal Commission’”, say Cooper Legal Principal Partner, Sonja Cooper and Cooper Legal Principal, Lydia Oosterhoff.

“While it is great that our Prime Minister took the opportunity to stand up and admit that the abuse survivors had been subjected to at the hands of the State was ‘horrific’, ‘heartbreaking’ and ‘wrong’, we think it is now time for this Government to implement most, preferably all, of the Royal Commission’s recommendations”, Ms Cooper said.

“The Royal Commission spent six years preparing detailed recommendations for the Government to implement and unfortunately, as of yet, very few have been implemented, apart from the apology.

“This includes a damning failure by the Government to implement the Royal Commission’s recommendation of an independent redress scheme, Puretumu Torowhānui. Instead, we’ve had some wishy-washy announcement about a 50% top-up, which does not even keep abreast with inflation.

“This Government has allowed countless more children and vulnerable adults to be subjected to abuse in so-called ‘care’ on its watch, and this Government has pushed through legislation, often under urgency, that takes away fundamental rights from the people it suggests it is remembering today.

“Only a few weeks ago, the Government introduced the Redress Systems for Abuse in Care Bill, which arbitrarily strips a large group of survivors of their right to obtain redress for abuse they were subjected to as children, on account of offending they may have committed as adults”, Ms Oosterhoff said.

“The Royal Commission also recommended that the Government implement an independent Care Safe Agency to prevent, and respond to, allegations of abuse in care. We consider recent revelations about a widespread cover-up of allegations of sexual abuse against a senior member at Police further confirms why this is required.

“We know from the Royal Commission that when left untethered, those in positions of power will protect their own. It happened at Police, and it happened, and continues to happen, as the State protects those who abused children in their care, or who turned a blind eye.

“It’s human nature; people do not want to believe those they work closely with, or those who are considered ‘their own’; would commit abuse. It is much easier to blame the faceless victims.

“The events at Police just reinforce why this Government needs to establish an independent body to investigate allegations of abuse in State care. As it currently stands, abuse survivors need to go to the agency that abused them to report abuse, if they do not want to initiate criminal proceedings.

“We need more oversight of the State care profession, and the Royal Commission has told this Government how to do this, but the Government has not listened.

“Far from doing right by survivors, this Government has overpromised and under-delivered. In fact, this Government has not delivered at all. This is a real shame because after the Royal Commission, survivors had hope and placed trust in the Government to deliver, only to be let down by the State yet again.

“All we ask is that the New Zealand public demands the Government does better. We ask the New Zealand public to recognise what today is about and recognise that survivors are part of New Zealand’s history”, Ms Cooper and Ms Oosterhoff said.

“Most importantly, we do not want a repeat of what is happening at Police, where conduct that has been the subject of a Royal Commission of Inquiry has been repeated.

“Today we ask that the public does what it can to prevent abuse in State care being the subject of another Royal Commission in 2040, and puts considerable pressure on this Government to do better,” Ms Cooper and Ms Oosterhoff concluded.

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