Erica Stanford responds to the Royal Commission’s report into historical abuse in state care and in the care of faith-based institutions.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is defending his decision to backtrack on a commitment to create a new redress system for abuse in state care survivors.
He argues last week’s confirmation of $774 million of funding that includes immediate increases to past and future compensation is more valuable than a new scheme, which he claims may have been worse than the current system.
However, an emotional Chris Hipkins is calling on Luxon to reconsider as he decries the need for abuse survivors to access redress from the state that abused them.
Luxon’s promise for a new scheme was one of the key features of a heartbreaking day at Parliament in November when the Government issued a formal apology for the abuse people suffered while in state care.
During his speech in the House, Luxon said: “I want to assure you today that it is our intention to have a new single redress system operating next year”.
A new redress system separate from the state was a central recommendation from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in state care.
As part of the near-$800m package in Budget 2025, the Government said it would increase the average redress payment for new claims from $19,180 to $30,000 and provide top-up payments of 50% to survivors who had already settled claims to ensure consistency with the increased payments for new claims.
The system’s capacity to process claims would also be increased from 1350 claims a year to 2150 from 2027, cutting down on wait times.
Survivors who have claims with multiple agencies would soon have one point of contact to assist them.
Minister Erica Stanford leads the Government's response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in state care. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Minister Erica Stanford, who leads the Government’s response to the inquiry, didn’t rule out further changes after the system was reviewed in 2027 but she stated the Government had prioritised giving survivors “certainty and clarity” quickly through Friday’s package.
Luxon today acknowledged Cabinet did consider a new redress system but claimed it would have been “incredibly time-consuming”, “expensive” and “disruptive”.
“Given people have been waiting an awful amount of time to be able to get any redress out of the system, we decided that we would work to improve the current system.”
He said he appreciated how some survivors might be disappointed but did not back away from his decision, suggesting a new system may not have been superior to what was currently in place.
Asked about Luxon’s response, a clearly emotional Hipkins took a breath before outlining his opposition to the Government’s approach.
“The Royal Commission was so clear that this needed to be done independently.
“The people who have been abused by the state should not have to go back to their abuser to seek redress, and I was so disappointed on their behalf on Friday.”
Acknowledging Labour governments failed to deliver redress, Hipkins said he was saddened the current Government hadn’t approached Labour to attempt bipartisan agreement concerning redress.
“The survivors shouldn’t still have to be fighting for this, and I think the Government has totally messed this up.
“It is another injustice that the survivors of abuse in state care are having to deal with.”
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.
