An apology, finally, but redress question still live

Tuesday, 12 November 2024

Dave Crichton didn’t get a spot in Parliament today.

He would have liked to have been there in person to hear the prime minister apologise for the abuse he suffered in state care.

Instead, he will be watching the apology from Wellington’s Shed 6 with other survivors who didn’t get in on the ballot.

“Once again, I was put in the ballot system, so it’s like bingo, basically.”

Today, survivors all across the country - many who have travelled to Wellington - will hear what will be a historic national apology from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon for the abuse they suffered in state care.

While the acknowledgement will be an incredibly important moment and one that is long-awaited for the survivors, many are saying it’s not enough and are still waiting on the details of redress.

In a post-Cabinet press conference on Monday, Minister Responsible Erica Stanford said, “we have been working on an enormous amount of things, the compensation and the redress is an extraordinary complex piece of work.

“There will be a number of cabinet decisions that need to be made, and we will have more to say in the early part of next year.”

Said Luxon: “There is, frankly, no amount of money that makes any of this OK for any of the survivors.

“I do want to express my tremendous gratitude to those … who shared their stories, we will never lose sight of your bravery, and we will never forget what you endured.”

Last night, Stanford and Luxon also announced the Government would outlaw strip-searching in youth care settings and provide new search powers for people visiting youth justice facilities.

It’s been more than six years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care was established, the largest investigation that New Zealand has seen.

An estimated 200,000 people were victims of what was largely described in the 3000-page final report, published in July, as systemic, industrial-scale abuse between 1950 and 2019.

“The state and leaders of faith-based institutions knew, or should have known, about the abuse and neglect that was happening. They failed not only in their duty to keep people in their care safe from harm, but they also failed to hold abusers to account,” the report said.

Crichton told The Post the Government’s actions are speaking as loud as its words.

He called the redress process “disgusting” and “disappointing”, as he has to watch the apology from a TV in a shed.

“I was locked in a shed when I was a boy growing up, [the Government)] don’t think very well do they?

“It’s all about ticking the box.”

He thought survivors should be able to bring more family along, who, he said, deserve an apology too: “You know, there's more than one person that's been harmed due to us being harmed.”

Going forward, Crichton hoped the survivors would be listened to, and in the top 10 of those making the decisions, but the apology was an indication to him as to how seriously the Government had taken it.

Fellow survivor Shane Tibbotts arrived in Wellington on Monday after starting a walk from Stanmore Road Boys' Home in Christchurch, where he he was harmed ‒ a more than 300km journey in just over three weeks.

“It was the mental side, the fact you know you have to get out there and do it; because of all these supporters, there was no way I was going to let them down,” he said.

The support made a huge difference, he said, something he never had growing up in state care, constantly being told he was “worthless” and would “amount to nothing”.

Today’s ceremony will begin at 8.45am with a mihi whakatau in Auckland, Christchurch, and Wellington, at both Parliament, and Shed 6.

There is an event in Parliament’s Banquet Hall at 9:45am which will be live-streamed to the public. There, survivors will hear apologies from various public sector leaders, including Oranga Tamariki’s acting chief executive Andrew Bridgman, acting chief executive of the Ministry of Education Andy Jackson, and Police Commissioner Tania Kura.

The public will also hear from four survivors before the national apology will be given in the House by the prime minister at 11:30am.