There will no doubt be lofty words about how we must not allow this systematic abuse to ever repeat itself, but as Christopher Luxon says sorry, it will come with a sense of irony for those survivors, given the Crown tried for many years to cover up these horrors.
In terms of the human suffering described within, the weight of the 16 volumes of reporting from the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care cannot be underestimated.
It revealed details of harrowing abuse that Crown Law was determined to block the release of in order to avoid setting a precedent for accountability and compensation packages for the victims.
The inquiry showed the Crown spent over a decade trying to withhold documents, obfuscate, and intimidate or cause mental distress to the survivors so that they might “give up their claims”. The depth of the political and legal deception is a national shame.
These weren’t actions confined to the distant past. In 2020, when the UN found that torture occurred at Lake Alice Psychiatric Facility, Crown Law withheld the release of documents, undermining criminal investigations into the abuse at the facility.
Māori have long been disproportionately represented in state care.
Thousands of Māori survivors came forward alongside disability, rainbow victims to share their experiences of abuse. So it’s galling that this coalition Government has removed protections for tamariki Māori in state care (7AA) against all official advice from the Waitangi Tribunal.
They didn’t stop there.
Corrections legislation was also stripped of Te Tiriti clauses, undermining important systemic changes that the new strategic direction of Hōkai Rangi looked to address.
Surely any Government hoping to prevent a repeat of the abuses detailed in the inquiry would embrace a Te Tiriti-centred corrections system which upholds the centrality of te ao Māori, connection to language and culture as a rehabilitation tool.
Especially considering how many of those in state and faith-based care have also been inmates in the corrections system, struggled with mental health problems and addiction, or were failed by the education system.
As the Government’s breaches of Te Tiriti o Waitangi pile up, its lack of care for te iwi Māori becomes more clear. It seems unable to recognise the harm of the system on Māori in their deliberations on the “Three Strikes” law and anti-gang legislation. The Government argues that Māori are victims too.
Yet there’s no attempt to unpack how gangs were founded by people recoiling from abuse in state care. There’s a whakapapa (genealogy) for the drivers of crime in this country. Yet those in power fail to recognise any correlation between impact and effect when it comes to Te Iwi Māori and honouring Te Tiriti.
Te Tiriti of Waitangi is the cornerstone of our nation. Upholding it in legislation has been a long work in progress, but we know it’s essential to ensuring young people of today and tomorrow don’t go through the dislocation and abuse that earlier generations did in state care.
So when that apology comes on November 12, we should note it’s easy for a Government to say sorry, but when its apology is at odds with its actions, then those words are empty.
