Abuse in Care — Either the Government pays compensation to every victim or to no one: Heather du Plessis-Allan

THREE KEY FACTS:

• The report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care says of the roughly 655,000 children, young people and adults in care during 1950 to 2019, about 200,000 were abused and even more were neglected.
• The inquiry found evidence of abuse and failures of responsibility ‘everywhere we looked’, including welfare institutions, churches and other religious organisations, some schools, the police and in successive governments.
• Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has established a taskforce to manage the report’s 138 recommendations.

Heather du Plessis-Allan hosts Drive on Newstalk ZB, weekdays 4pm-7pm.

OPINION

For one afternoon this week, Parliament was a place that might’ve made a few New Zealanders proud.

It was Wednesday afternoon when the grim contents of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was laid bare for us to see — and be horrified by.

MPs across the House responded with humanity and compassion, remarkable because it was directed at people who have often had very little of both shown to them.

Gang members, people who became criminals, people who developed depression, developed addictions, were seen as strange by family and colleagues who’d struggled to explain why they behave the way they do.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, whose party opposed this very inquiry as recently as 2018, admitted that as painful as it was to read about the acts of abuse, it’s “not as painful as they were to endure”.

Chris Hipkins, whose party started the inquiry but made none of the hard decisions it demands, admitted Labour “didn’t do enough”.

For one afternoon, the abused people in the debating chamber’s public gallery probably did feel heard and believed, as the PM said they were.

Some will have to savour that moment because the compassion will not last.

Gang members, for example, will only have so much sympathy extended to them for so long. It’s unlikely the Government will drop its gang crackdown because of what those men suffered as kids.

In fact, it’s hard to see the Government giving anyone a softer ride despite the report’s recommendations.

The report calls for courts to go softer when they sentence criminals if those criminals were victims of this abuse. Instead, the coalition Government is rewriting sentencing laws to force judges to go harder on criminals, despite their histories.

The report tells harrowing stories of the way young people were treated in boot camps.

At one on Great Barrier Island, young people would be dropped off on remote islands with nothing but water for days at a time. They spoke of being forced to dig their own graves at gunpoint.

Meanwhile, the Government’s starting its first boot camp pilot in Palmerston North tomorrow to straighten out young crims.

The Opposition will use this report to attack the tough-on-crime policies and already the Greens are doing that.

If there was a bum note in the display of humanity shown on Wednesday, it was Greens co-leader Chloe Swarbrick pausing from focusing on the victims, to attack the Government’s planned boot camps.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has established a taskforce to manage the report’s 138 recommendations. Photo / Mark Mitchell

But if holding the line on tough-on-crime policies seems like it’s going to be hard (and it won’t be because of likely public support), what will be much harder for the Government will be figuring out how to compensate the victims of this abuse.

Either the Government pays compensation to everyone abused, or to no one. If it pays to everyone, then it potentially pays money to thousands of gang members who suffered abuse in those boys’ homes.

And potentially, it pays quite hefty sums. The report recommends $10,000 at least. A lawyer advocating for victims wants hundreds of thousands for each. It’s unlikely victims of the crimes those gang members have gone on to commit will love that idea.

If the Government pays to no one, then the state once again fails the very people this report accuses it of having failed for decades.

Arguably, displaying humanity and acknowledging the abuse on Wednesday may have been the easier bit. What comes next is much more complex.