Minister Erica Stanford, following the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in state care, revealed a redress package for those who were tortured at the Lake Alice facility.
The Government is increasing the Lake Alice torture redress funding pool by $7 million after a higher-than-expected number of survivors were deemed eligible for payment.
In the 70s and 80s, hundreds of children and young people were sent to the psychiatric institution in Manawatū, where many were tortured withelectric shocks and painful injections of paraldehyde.
Officials in December had expected up to 120 people to be eligible for payments, but as of last week, 137 applicants have been deemed eligible and another eight are being considered.
The total funding available for the Lake Alice Child and Adolescent torture redress scheme is now $29.68m. Of this, $26.56m is for redress payments. The remainder was for administrative costs.
Redress options for those tortured at Lake Alice include a rapid $150,000 payment or an individualised assessment of the level of torture they were put through. As of July 10, 98 people had requested the $150,000 expedited payment and 87 payments had been made.
Thirty-nine survivors said they wanted an individual assessment, which will be reviewed by an independent arbiter, Paul Davison, KC.
State Abuse Response Minister Erica Stanford says the extra funding shows the Government's commitment to redress. Photo / Mark Mitchell
The Government had agreed to allocate Davison up to $8.85m for up to 39 claimants to ensure redress packages reflected the experiences of torture people suffered.
Davison is due to complete his work by September 30.
“The further increase in funding for redress for torture at Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit shows how seriously the Government takes its responsibilities in relation to this scheme,” state abuse inquiry response minister Erica Stanford said.
“The additional funding is to provide redress to a higher number of eligible survivors and ensure that the independent arbiter has funding available to appropriately recognise the different experiences of torture at the unit for those who have chosen the individualised pathway.”
She said survivors had also been given access to other support services including counselling, financial advice and assistance with making wills.
It’s understood the Government’s top-up accounted for the potential for more people to come forward and further significant increases weren’t expected at this stage, given a slowing rate of applications.
Last year, Stanford said the treatment at Lake Alice wasn’t administered for any medical reason but “instead were used for punishment and emotional control through terror”.
“It is beyond heartbreaking.”
The Royal Commission of Inquiry found most of the young people at the facility were there for behavioural reasons, including abuse, harm or trauma, rather than mental distress.
In July last year, the Government for the first time formally acknowledged that this amounted to torture.
On November 12, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon issued a historic official apology to the hundreds of thousands of people who were abused in state and faith-based care institutions over decades, including at Lake Alice.
Julia Gabel is a Wellington-based political reporter. She joined the Herald in 2020 and has most recently focused on data journalism.
