The Government is today making a national apology to New Zealanders who were abused while in state and faith-based care.
The apology comes after the release of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care in July, which found almost a third of people in state and faith-based institutions between 1950 and 2019 were abused.
It described it as a “disgrace” and a “stain” on the national character.
An apology from officials would begin at 9.45am today, and could be viewed here.
The national apology will be delivered later in the morning by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at Parliament.
Yesterday, the Government said it was introducing several law changes to protect people in state care.
“The magnitude of the abuse detailed by the Royal Commission of Inquiry was heartbreaking, and as a Government we will do everything in our power to try and prevent abuse from occurring in the future,” Lead Coordination Minister Erica Stanford said.
The Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill will have its first reading today.
It will make changes to the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989, Children’s Act 2014, Crimes Act 1961, and Public Records Act 2005.
Ministers said the bill will:
- Remove strip searches of children in care and provide new search powers for people visiting youth justice facilities
- Strengthen restrictions for people working with young children
- Enforce better record keeping by Government agencies
- Amend the Crimes Act to include disability in the definition of vulnerable adult.
“We want to ensure that every child in this country is raised in a loving and stable home that sets them up to succeed in life,” Minister for Children Karen Chhour said.
Apology a ‘huge milestone’ — survivor
“Today’s apology is a huge milestone, a monumental day for those who have suffered and their families,” Keith Wiffen told Breakfast. (Source: Breakfast)
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, survivor Keith Wiffen said he was feeling “hopeful, a little bit excited and a little bit anxious” ahead of today’s apology.
He was put in state care at the age of 10 and the abuse began in the van on the way to Epuni Boys’ Home in Lower Hutt.
“Today’s apology is a huge milestone, a monumental day for those who have suffered and their families. And it doesn’t come down entirely to monetary restitution… it comes down to other things such as, ultimately, taking accountability for creating the scale of what’s transpired.”
He said there was an independent redress proposal which has been sitting with the Government for “nearly a year now” and he found it difficult to accept that some of those proposals could not have been incorporated.
“As far as I’m concerned, we should be a little bit further down the track than this.”
Wiffen said it was a “big day for the country itself, because the impact is so very, very large on all of us and it’s ongoing”.
Asked about the omnibus regulations announced yesterday, Whiffen said “the system itself has been the problem”.
“So we need to look at fundamentally different ways of doing things if we want to affect different and better outcomes. So that means keeping our young out of care in the first place as much as possible, having more resource available to families and whānau to look after their own.”
Survivor Experiences board co-chairperson Eugene Ryder also told Breakfast he also “felt for the Government today”.
“Most of the ministers were children when we were children, and they now have the responsibility for apologising for a system that existed quite some time ago,” he said.
Ryder said different survivors would have different expectations from today’s apology, with some wanting redress “here and now”.
“One of the challenges for today’s Government is to try to create a system that is independent of those organisations that was responsible for the care of children.”
He said it was important to remember that some people who were abused in care did not survive, and that generational trauma has been passed on.
He said he was feeling “quite emotional” ahead of the apology.
Care experience rangatahi prepare for national apology
Care experience advocate Ihorangi Reweti Peters was among 11 young survivors to share his story in a group submission. (Source: Breakfast)
Care experience advocate Ihorangi Reweti Peters was among the 11 young survivors to share his experience in the group submission.
He’d be attending the national apology event held in Parliament, and hoped it would bring some closure for survivors across the motu.
“I’m hoping to get some answers as to the next steps for the Government’s work programme and the steps they’ll that they’ll be taking over the next couple of months to be able to implement all of the recommendations,” he told Breakfast.
Peters said he was removed from his parents care aged seven-months-old and put into state care due to behavioural and psychological issues from the age of seven.
“In five of the placements that I have had, I experienced physical and emotional abuse from the caregiver that were charged by the state to make sure I was safe, and cared for, and loved.
“But these experiences, both positive and negative led me to advocate for the lives of our tamariki, rangitahi, and whānau in care and with care experience, but also our survivor whānau as well.”
He said he would be looking to the Prime Minister and the Lead Coordination Minister for some of these answers.
“One of the biggest letdowns for me is that there will be no redress announcement. It should be the main priority for this Government and especially redress should have been announced today.
“I don’t think I will get closure today if redress hasn’t been or will not be announced but I potentially may get closure in other ways. I feel that it is obviously a landmark that we are having this apology today and I will have part closure.”
Govt ‘facing up to a very shameful past’ — PM
Christopher Luxon said the Government would “continue to work on financial redress” to support survivors. (Source: Breakfast)
Speaking to Breakfast ahead of this afternoon’s apology, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said today was a “sorrowful but significant day for New Zealand”.
“We are facing up to a very shameful past where thousands of New Zealanders were abused in state care, and the abuse was harrowing and horrific.”
Luxon said the Government would “continue to work on financial redress” to support survivors.
“They want support with respect to services they may need; with respect to counselling and other services. But importantly, we know the financial redress component is an important part to it.”
He said there were “imperfections” with the current system and there were improvements the Government could make in the short term.
“We are working at pace with the Ministers to build out a single financial redress system. We will have more to say about that in the first part of 2025.”
He said his Government received the final report in July detailing 138 “quite complex” recommendations, in additions to 95 recommendations from the interim report.
Luxon said the Government had already completed or started 28 of these recommendations and was “working through them as fast as we possibly can”.
“What we are doing as a Government is first and foremost about acknowledging what happened — that was the report in July.
“Today is about apologising formally on behalf of this Government and also previous governments over the past 50 years that the Royal Commission looked into this.
“The third thing is to make sure preventing abuse like this doesn’t happen again. So those are the actions that we’re working on,” he said.
“There’s more work always for us to do, and there will always be more work for us to care for our most vulnerable.”
