Abuse in Care apology: Why Parliament was the wrong place for atonement – Russell Smith

THREE KEY FACTS

• Between 1950 and 1999, state and faith-based institutions had hundreds of thousands of people in their care.
• The state almost always failed to consider or recognise an ao Māori (Māori world) view, tikanga, te reo and mātauranga Māori when removing or placing tamariki, rangatahi and pakeke Māori in all care settings.
• The best available estimates indicate up to 200,000 people were abused in care between 1950 and 1999.

Russell Smith is co-founder of Korowai Tumanako and has led a clinical team for over 18 years. He is a member of the New Zealand Rugby Union Respect & Responsibility Advisory Board and one of the advanced sexual assault (ASA) trainers to New Zealand Police senior officers. He has fostered 34 children over 13 years and is a father to three and grandfather of 9.

OPINION

For a genuine reckoning, atonement and path to healing for Abuse in Care survivors, the Government should have done the unthinkable – led with compassion and humility.

Its actions should have declared, “We hear you; we see you; we stand with you.” It should have embodied aroha, respect and deep sensitivity.

It is our collective responsibility to hold the Government and faith-based organisations to account for delivering the reforms that survivors urgently need, says Russell Smith. Photo / Mark Mitchell

But choosing Parliament as the official venue for the Prime Minister’s national apology to survivors falls short of genuine accountability – it simply doesn’t cut it.

Hearing those words echo in the chamber of the House of Representatives undermines public confidence and erodes trust. It was a foundational error in judgment.

Why? The last place I would allow a perpetrator to pass an apology is from their house.

You must go to the communities where the harm occurred and deliver the apology directly to the people – not in Parliament, the very institution that allowed decades of abuse to affect a quarter of a million citizens.

Russell Smith believes the apology should have been delivered directly to the communities affected, not in Parliament.

The Government should have chosen direct engagement at the flaxroots outlining concrete, meaningful actions for survivor restoration and systemic prevention to ensure this never happens again.

Will the Government commit to establishing an independent monitoring body to oversee state care facilities? Or will history sadly repeat itself?

Many in our sector are gravely concerned about the present Government’s ongoing policies and decisions that continue to perpetuate harm. Boot camps being one that is top of mind.

These actions contradict the very vision outlined in He Māra Tipu – Vision for the future, the royal commission’s report.

The narrative of apology must include prevention and intervention, highlighting the ongoing abuse in care systems. Wise experts in the community need to craft policy. It is essential to get the basics right.

The ordering of necessary steps that must be taken to heal is all wrong. This sequencing is not tika or pono. You cannot address and restore tapu and mana in this way.

From my professional point of view, gained from decades working with offenders and people who have been harmed, the first thing they must do is change their behaviour and they do that by looking at what mechanisms are in place that maintain this abuse – followed by an apology.

I urge immediate, systemic change and reform. Survivors need prompt financial redress too. The Treasury Bid appropriation for MSD is sitting in the 2024 Budget already.

Will the Government commit to establishing an independent monitoring body to oversee state care facilities? Photo / RNZ

I call on all New Zealanders to support survivors in this critical movement towards real justice.

The apology process has been unacceptable in terms of the time it has taken and the numerous previous governments that have refused to engage and contend with the steps required to right the historic and present wrongs.

It is going to take courageous political leadership that is willing to put survivors’ priorities above its own political comfort.

Today our national network, TOAH-NNEST, stands in solidarity with survivors of state and faith-based care and their whānau.

We honour their resilience, courage and powerful collective effort that brought our nation to this moment, especially remembering those who are no longer here to witness this atonement.

We especially remember those who died waiting for this apology – those whose pain and suffering were compounded by institutional repression that made it impossible for them to have their voices heard.

For some, the unbearable load of their abuse and the shame imposed by the system led them to the tragic decision that they could not carry on.

Russell Smith: "It is time for real action and system change."

The royal commission has provided a clear and coherent programme of work with defined timeframes for action.

Now it is our collective responsibility to hold the Government and faith-based organisations to account for delivering the reforms that survivors urgently need.

Survivors deserve more than just words. They need fundamental reform. It is time for real action and system change.