Rangitīkei MP Suze Redmayne praises Lake Alice survivors for their bravery

An aerial view of Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital. Photo: PUBLIC DOMAIN/ https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7629585

Rangitīkei MP Suze Redmayne has commended Lake Alice survivors for their “exceptional bravery” in sharing their stories as the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care was tabled in Parliament last week.

Redmayne described it was a shameful chapter in New Zealand’s history.

“I’d like to think that abuse as horrific and devastating as that endured by the Lake Alice survivors could never have happened here in the Rangitīkei. But it did, and it’s a shameful chapter of our history that we must confront,” she said.

“I’d like to acknowledge the survivors for their exceptional bravery and for sharing their stories.”

“It was a privilege to be in the House with some of the Lake Alice survivors in the Gallery last week as the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care was tabled.”

Rangitīkei MP Suze Redmayne.

For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture.

The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament on Monday.

The Royal Commission found most of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit between 1972 and 1978 did not have any form of mental illness.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said what the Lake Alice survivors went through was profoundly disturbing.

“It is reprehensible that this has occurred in New Zealand,” he said.

“I want to thank the Lake Alice survivors for their determination to ensure what they suffered was brought to light. I am sorry it has taken so long for this acknowledgement of torture.”

The Minister responsible for coordinating the Crown Response to the Abuse in Care Inquiry, Erica Stanford, said throughout the 1970s patients at Lake Alice were given electric shocks without anaesthetic, as well as painful and immobilising paraldehyde injections.

“It is clear treatments were not administered for any medical reason. They were used for punishment and emotional control through terror. It is beyond heartbreaking,” she said.

Stanford said the Government would now consider options for redress for the survivors of Lake Alice.

“Many of the Lake Alice survivors are in fragile health and some have passed away. To their families and whānau, I am sorry that they are not here to hear the state admit to what we should have many years ago,” she said.

“That’s why it was so important for the Government to make this announcement today so that we can finally acknowledge what these survivors experienced.”

It was the first time a New Zealand Government had acknowledged that some children and young people at the Lake Alice Unit in the 1970s were tortured as defined in the United Nations Convention Against Torture.

In 2001, the Government formally apologised to 95 former Lake Alice patients and two rounds of settlements were made, in 2001 and in 2002/2003.

To date, 202 claims have been settled, averaging $70,000 each, with five more pending. Settlements remain open to Lake Alice survivors yet to come forward.