What you need to know: Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry

Wednesday, 24 July 2024

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in state care, the most complex and long-running public inquiry in New Zealand’s history, has detailed a litany of pervasive and systemic abuse.

The final report from the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry has been made public today.

Sobering numbers:

Sparked by calls made by survivors, and a petition and open letter gathering 15,000 signatures delivered by the then Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy in 2017, the final report reveals sobering numbers.

More than 2000 survivors told their stories to the inquiry. Pictured is Andrew Brown, who spent much of his early life in state care and suffered abuse at the hands of those who were supposed to protect him.

It’s the biggest and costliest inquiry to date in New Zealand. It took five years to complete from 2018, encompassed nearly six decades (1950 to 1999), is believed to have affected more than 200,000 people, and saw more than 2000 survivors tell their stories to the inquiry.

Minister Erica Stanford pores over the pages of the Royal Commission into Abuse in State Care. The nearly 3000 pages make for harrowing reading.

The final report is almost 3000 pages long and weighs 14kg.

What they say happened:

The abuse in state care and faith-based institutions of children — many between 10 and 14 years old — was pervasive, widespread and predominantly involved physical and sexual abuse. It included supervisors orchestrating beatings and rape till the children could barely walk, leaving them screaming and begging for their lives, as well as staff going to extremes to inflict as much pain as possible, using weapons and electric shocks. The abuse also included solitary confinement, medical, psychological, educational and cultural neglect, racial abuse and forced labour.
Māori, Pacific people, Deaf and disabled communities were disproportionately affected because of racism, poverty, segregation for people with disabilities and those experiencing mental distress. They were treated with a punitive system rather than care.
Many survivors died while they were in care, some in unmarked graves, while others died by suicide afterwards.
Those culpable included Dilworth School in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland (Anglican), Marylands School in Ōtautahi Christchurch (Catholic) and at Catholic institutions in general, which were the places where the highest levels of sexual abuse were reported. There are also allegations of sexual abuse in the care of Jehovah’s Witnesses and by former public sector workers.
The total cost for the impact on survivors is estimated to be between $96 billion and $217b.

Key recommendations:

A specialist police unit to investigate historic abuse in care and financial compensation is among 138 recommendations from the Royal Commission.
Establishment of a new puretumu torowhānui (holistic redress) system to provide financial compensation and redress including changing of place names, providing survivors access to personal records and establishing various support services.
A “whānau harm payment” set at $10,000 to be paid to family members who have been cared for by survivors to recognise the intergenerational damage caused.
Numerous legislative changes, including amending the Crimes Act to specifically include disability within the definition of a vulnerable adult, and reviewing the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act to ensure survivors are not unfairly excluded from eligibility under the Act.
Apologies from numerous senior figures, including from the prime minister, the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Public Service Commissioner, the Solicitor‑General, the police commissioner and the chief executives of Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education.

What next?

Survivors want to see the state support whānau to provide care themselves, as well as implementing various safeguards to prevent future abuse and neglect.
The commission recommended that the Government and faith-based institutions publish their responses to the report within two months, and whether they accept or reject each of the findings and recommendations within four months.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will make a formal apology in November.