The Government’s commitment to implement a new operable redress scheme by next year isn’t satisfying survivors of abuse in state and faith-based institutions as one believes the Government is still “dragging the chain”.
The issue of compensating the hundreds of thousands who were abused across several decades remains unresolved for many survivors who endured what was an emotional and, at times, hostile day at Parliament as Prime Minister Christopher Luxon articulated the Government’s formal apology.
“An apology without redress is meaningless,” survivor Paora Crawford-Moyle told the Herald.
“That’s been the number one message throughout today. Until redress, substantial redress, occurs this is not going to be made better.”
Shane from Tauranga, another survivor, agreed: “I think that they’re dragging the chain ... there’s a lot of people out there who are on their death bed and next year won’t cut it.”
Luxon, in his speech to the House, acknowledged his words would “count for little” without action on redress.
However, having cited the complexity of such a scheme in the days leading up to today’s apology, Luxon was only able to announce $32 million of funding to “increase capacity” in the current redress scheme that is processing about 3500 new applications and is considered not fit for purpose by Luxon himself.
Redress aside, today’s apology was a confronting and immense occasion for politicians, public service leaders and survivors alike as the state addressed what many have called New Zealand’s national disgrace.
More than 200 survivors filed into Parliament’s banquet hall this morning preparing to hear the first round of apologies from seven public sector leaders representing Oranga Tamariki, Crown Law, the Ministry of Social Development, police, education, health and the public service.
Many were greeted personally by Luxon and other senior ministers. What started as a sombre and calm atmosphere grew into an at times hostile reception for the public sector leaders, who were heckled and jeered at by some survivors as they tried to apologise for their agency’s failings.
The tension reached its peak as Solicitor-General Una Jagose took the stage. Jagose, who leads the Crown’s legal team, had herself been involved in defending the state against claims of abuse.
That was not lost on some survivors in the audience, who berated Jagose and demanded she stop speaking. Jagose was forced to pause several times as the heckling intensified, prompting local iwi members to attempt to calm the crowd.
Speaking afterwards, Jagose said she understood why people saw her as the “barrier” in obtaining justice. She maintained she was the best person to lead the Government’s lawyers in the future, a position later endorsed by Luxon, as she advocated for a culture change to “see the person behind the claim”.
Any anger and trauma the apologies stirred up soon subsided as survivors heard from their own - three powerful speakers who addressed the audience in-person and another - Sir Robert Martin - who spoke posthumously via a pre-recorded video.
Luxon, who had attended the event earlier, had left by the time the survivors spoke, which was not lost on speaker Tu Chapman.
“That tells us something, does it not?
“Prime Minister, put your money where your mouth is.”
Fellow survivor Keith Wiffen had a similar message for Luxon: “It is time to deliver. Do the right thing.”
While Wiffen acknowledged the public sector leaders who had apologised, he reflected a sentiment held by many survivors who had heard those “meaningless words” in the past but hadn’t witnessed action.
Luxon and minister Erica Stanford, who was leading the Government’s response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in state care, sought to address calls for action by making several announcements alongside the $32m to improve the current redress scheme.
Among them were a $2m fund for survivor support services, confirmation of a National Remembrance Day on November 12 next year to mark the apology’s one-year anniversary, beginning work to take down memorials like street signs for “proven perpetrators” and seeking to discover and name unmarked graves at historical care facilities.
Also introduced today was an omnibus bill with several proposed law changes the Government claimed would address some of the failings highlighted by the inquiry, such as outlawing the strip-searching of children and improving security for youth justice residence visitors.
“It was horrific. It was heartbreaking. It was wrong. And it should never have happened,” Luxon said in the House as he gazed up at a public gallery brimming with survivors.
“You knew the truth because you lived it, and you have waited and waited for people to start listening to you. Now New Zealand has listened. Words do matter and I say these words with sincerity: I have read your stories, and I believe you.
“It is on all of us to do all we can to ensure that abuse that should never have been accepted, no longer occurs. That will be an enduring legacy of your contribution to changing the system, and the Government’s commitment to implementing that change.”
Speaking for the Opposition, Labour leader Chris Hipkins gave an impassioned speech canvassing the wide array of abuse forms perpetrated by the state, condemning them as the “worst of human nature”.
He apologised for how successive Labour governments had failed to act and personally accepted the previous Labour Government - one he led for a time - had acted too slowly to address compensation.
“Redress has taken far, far too long, to the point where many have already died, or fear they might do so before getting any compensation,” he said.
“I have said it before and I’ll say it again – it is a national disgrace that we took so long and I apologise for this.”
Despite the “big bill” redress was expected to cause, Hipkins committed to working alongside the Government to get it done “as quickly and efficiently as possible”.
Shane, a survivor from Tauranga who had travelled to Wellington for the apology, had been through the current redress scheme and described it as re-traumatising.
“It’s very, very traumatic and heartbreaking and I can’t hold back the tears. I try but I can’t, it brings me back to what happened to me.”
He had little time for calls for urgency from politicians, noting there were survivors who might not live to see a new scheme implemented.
“It seems like we’re waiting and waiting and once again we’re getting let down by the Government.”
“We need to move forward and move forward quickly and no more delays.”
Crawford-Moyle, of Ngāti Porou and Welsh ancestry, said survivors remained in the dark about how redress would work.
“We waited as children in lonely places that abused us and we’re still waiting for the ‘parent’ to cough up and I don’t mean just money.”
While she felt the apologies from public sector leaders were “ghost-like” and “disingenuous”, Crawford-Moyle credited the “powerful” survivors who spoke publicly and also approved of the tone Hipkins took.
“He covered every abuse type, the people that were responsible, what needs to happen, that he’s heard survivors and that he impressed upon Luxon to come up with the goods.”
However, she refrained from complimenting the Government until it provided some answers.
“I’ll believe it when I see it and survivors will just keep on waiting until something happens.”
Adam Pearse is a political reporter in the NZ Herald Press Gallery team, based at Parliament. He has worked for NZME since 2018, covering sport and health for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei before moving to the NZ Herald in Auckland, covering Covid-19 and crime.
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