A collection of responses to the release of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care report.
For the key recommendations from the report, see here.
For a long list of ministers and leaders found at fault for allowing abuse in care, see here.
Note: some responses have been edited and condensed for clarity
‘This is a dark and sorrowful day in New Zealand’s history’ – Luxon
“It is important that, as a country, we bring to the surface and understand the hard truths of what happened so we can try and move forward together. I say to the survivors, the burden is no longer yours to carry alone. The state is now standing here beside you, accountable and ready to take action.
I know that for some Lake Alice survivors, the acknowledgement today that what happened to you was torture is something for which you have been waiting for decades. For you, this is a day of great significance. For others who suffered torture, I know this acknowledgement feels hollow without the recognition that comes with redress. I regret that that is not something that we can give you today, but it is a priority for the Government in the coming months.
I want to again acknowledge the survivors for their exceptional bravery and for sharing their stories. I share your dream for the next generation where every child, young person and adult is loved, safe, and cared for in a manner that supports their growth and development into a thriving contributor to our society. I will never lose sight of what you have endured to bring the truth to life.”
– Christopher Luxon, New Zealand prime minister, in a speech in the House
The November apology is the first step – Stanford
“This is a significant event, and the government is working with survivor groups to deliver an event that gives it the dignity it deserves. The apology will provide an important opportunity for the government, and the leaders of other political parties, to take responsibility on behalf of the nation for the failures of the state across many governments.
Other recommendations will require more time to consider and respond to, particularly those involving legislative and major organisational change. We will provide an update by November.”
– Erica Stanford, the minister responsible for coordinating the Crown response to the abuse in care inquiry
‘We can build a future where abuse and neglect is eliminated’ – Greens
“The difficult journeys and harrowing testimonies from survivors who contributed to the Royal Commission of Inquiry cannot be ignored. It is incumbent on the government to listen and learn from their stories.
This five-year inquiry involved painstaking collation of stories from people who have experienced grave mistreatment in care. We as a country have a duty to ensure this inquiry wasn’t in vain. However the reality is that the policies of this Government are likely to see a continuation of the legacy of neglect and abuse at the hands of the state.
Labelling troubled children as young serious offenders, sending them to military boot camps, removing Treaty provisions in the Oranga Tamariki Act and building mega prisons all contribute to a cradle to the grave pipeline of institutionalisation which ruins people’s lives.
We can build a future where abuse and neglect is eliminated by undertaking transformational change to a system that has failed our communities time and time again.”
– Kahurangi Carter, Green Party spokesperson for children
‘It’s a national disgrace’
“The Royal Commission report sets out, in detail, some of the most serious crimes ever committed in this country. The nature and extent of the violence and harms – undertaken, in our name, and often under the guise of ‘care’, ‘protection’, ‘health’, ‘justice’, ‘faith’ or other seemingly benign agendas – are truly shocking.
The pages are rightly filled with survivors’ stories. It is extraordinarily hard reading.
This is a national story. About how we, as a country, have supported abusive conditions and treatments. How we’ve allowed that violence to happen in our name. It’s a national disgrace.
While the Commission was mostly focused on events from 1950-1999, we have to be clear: none of this is ‘historic’. None of this is in the past. Let’s not pretend that abuse is over. We have far too many reports of physical or sexual assaults, excruciating uses of solitary, cultural abuse, systemic neglect, excessive punishments or other harms across our state systems to pretend that all is well. We need transformations.
We need to fundamentally re-envision the ways we do ‘care’ in this country. We should never allow abuse to continue.”
– Elizabeth Stanley, professor in the School of Social and Cultural Studies at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University, author of The Road to Hell
Abuse didn’t stop in 1999
“Young people shared their experiences of being abused in Oranga Tamariki care, feeling hopeless, alone and scared. The aim of Korowai Aroha is to make sure that the voices of rangatahi are heard and have been acknowledged by the commission.
Those involved in the submission also spoke openly about a distrust in the government, ongoing trauma, a lack of support for caregivers, and a lack of action when reporting abuse.
I was five when the abuse got really, really bad because OT didn’t bother to check in, OT never came. These are beautiful children in the community. They need love, not a dark cloud over their head.”
– Ihorangi Reweti Peters, advocate with VOYCE – Whakarongo Mai’s group of rangatahi who experienced abuse in care after 1999
Ignoring the recommendations would ‘spit in the faces and graves of survivors’
“The government’s current policy concerning boot camps for children and repealing s 7AA lies in stark contrast to the evidence-based solutions Whanaketia outlines. These policies will continue abuse in state care and make youth crime worse.
Today needs to be the day the government faces survivors, listens and takes swift action to implement the Royal Commission’s recommendations. Failing to immediately commit to the entirety of the Royal Commission’s recommendations would be spitting in the faces and graves of survivors, and ignoring the clear need for urgency of action.
While the upfront costs of investing in effective redress and support for survivors in line with the Royal Commission’s detailed recommendations will be significant, the costs of failing to act will be much higher, for both survivors and taxpayers, including increasing crime, addiction and unemployment, and continuing a vicious cycle of institutionalisation and incarceration for survivors. Hopefully, Christopher Luxon will not repeat Chris Hipkins’s mistake of not taking immediate bold, evidence-based action.”
– Sonja Cooper, principal partner at Cooper Legal, a legal firm that has represented survivors
‘Our collective response to this report will define our national character’
Today’s final report shines a stark light on the system and organisational failures that have allowed the abuse of children to persist in our country.
Firstly, we want to recognise the bravery and perseverance of the survivors who have demanded answers for years and have shared their experiences to the inquiry. We also want to recognise those victims who have passed.
From listening to the tabling of the final report, continuing abuse in state care has been acknowledged. We must also acknowledge abuse of children continues in many organisational settings, including faith-based care at unacceptable rates across Aotearoa.
At Safeguarding Children, we believe that the time for voluntary compliance from any organisations working with and caring for children has passed. We want to see accountability in all settings such as schools, congregations, community organisations, charities, sports and privately funded organisations.
As we read the full report and its recommendations in coming days, this must serve as a pivotal moment – a moment where we choose to put the safety and well-being of children above all else. Our collective response to this report will define our national character and is an opportunity to show our commitment to protecting the most vulnerable among us.”
– Ruth Browning, social worker at Safeguarding Children
‘A harrowing and confronting account of atrocities’
“In 2018 we started the long overdue process of acknowledging the abuse that happened, and to formally hear from those who have had to live with the repercussions of that for a long time. I give my thanks to the commissioners, assisting counsel, the Survivor Advisory Group of Experts and all others who were instrumental in this inquiry. This was no simple task.
This report is a harrowing and confronting account of the atrocities suffered by those in state and faith-based care.What happened was unacceptable and remains a disgraceful part of our history. The consequences for survivors have been far reaching and intergenerational – affecting families and loved ones across decades. We owe it to survivors to closely read this report, to hear the human stories behind it and work through the recommendations made.”
– Chris Hipkins, Labour Party leader and former prime minister
‘The state cannot keep running from its responsibility’
“The state cannot keep running from its responsibility from the abuse that has, and continues to happen, in institutions across New Zealand. The United Nations made this clear recently when reviewing our country’s dismal performance under the Treaties we are signatory to requiring the state protect, not harm, all our children, young persons and vulnerable adults. The state has provided protection to the churches where the worst of the sexual abuse happened, excluding faith-based institutions from the Inquiry scope, and when forced to reverse that decision, later amending the scope to downgrade the investigation of the abuse in church institutions.
What is most important is that this report and its recommendations does not become the next obstacle that further delays the victims of historic abuse receiving rapid, fair and adequate financial compensation and redress. After five years waiting, and a costly inquiry, survivors of historic abuse who have not passed away are still left negotiating life with serious impacts and no resource to help navigate around the immense trauma they continue to suffer.”
– Liz Tonks, advocate and spokesperson for the Network of Survivors in Faith-based Institutions
Leaders in the Catholic Church have a special role to play
There is work for the government to do and work to be undertaken by many other people. We understand that within the community, some of us – including leaders in the Catholic Church – have a special role to play to ensure that the findings and recommendations of this significant inquiry are not lost or confined to words in a report. We commit to that role.
At the same time, everyone must play their part in responding to the Inquiry’s report to the extent that they can. There are things that all of us can and must do to eliminate abuse of any kind in whatever context we live and work in. We hope this report and the work that flows from it will result in a better society and a safer environment for all people.
Abuse is not only historical, nor confined to one part of society or another. The Inquiry’s report and the material that we heard from victims and survivors make that crystal clear. Over the past 30 years, the Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand has made significant progress in responding to reports of abuse and safeguarding. We must continue to work to ensure that progress continues and that our church communities are places where people are safe.
-Bishop Steve Lowe, New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference Aotearoa New Zealand president and Father Thomas Rouse, Congregational Leaders Conference Aotearoa New Zealand president
‘Faith leaders need to right the wrongs of the past’ – Baptists
We agree with the report: what a disgrace.
We acknowledge the survivors of abuse, their courage to participate in this inquiry, and the great personal toll this process has taken on them and their supporters. No abuse is acceptable. This report documents that there have been considerable injustices done to people while in the care of State and faith-based institutions, including in the Baptist church. We do not condone any form of abuse.
We acknowledge the recommendations of the report, especially the need for faith leaders to right the wrongs of the past (puretumu torowhānui) and the establishment of a National Care Safety Strategy. It will be a priority for us to work with our family of churches in regard to the implementation of the outcomes of this report.
This report is extremely comprehensive. To ensure it is fully engaged with in the Baptist context, we are establishing a Whanaketia (Abuse in Care Report) Baptist Review Group. The purpose of this Group is to provide steps we should take in response to the report. The Group will consist of qualified and experienced people from within the Baptist Union of New Zealand.
We strive for a church and world absent of abuse where there are no victims who need to show the bravery that those involved in the RCI Abuse in Care process have done. We are appalled by what this inquiry has uncovered, and we grieve deeply for victims of abuse. As a national denomination, we work hard with our Baptist churches to keep people safe.
-Rod Robson, Susan Osborne, Charles Hewlett, Baptist Assembly council chair, national president and National leader
‘If there is no change, a class action should be filed’
The true test of whether the government will whakatika, put right the wrong is if they accept and implement the 138 recommendations. The irony and disappointing fact is back in 2021 ‘He Purapura Ora, he Māra Tipu’ from Redress to Puretumu Torowhānui, was released to the government dealing with redress.
It contained 95 recommendations that were not implemented and basically ignored by the government that commissioned the advice in the first place. So here we go again, now is the moment of truth. The wero has been laid for the government to atone and take these recommendations seriously.
The state operated by successive governments has caused inexplicable and unrepairable trauma, the majority inflicted on Māori. And if there is no change I stand firm that class action should be filed holding the State to account. Criminal charges against the Crown need to be laid as it must take responsibility for the destruction it has caused to so many whānau, hapū and iwi.
– Lady Tureiti Moxon, chair of the National Urban Māori Authority (NUMA)
‘We know that abuse in the state care is continuing to harm children and young people’
“Children and young people who come into the State care and protection system have already experienced harm. The state has a duty to ensure that they are safe while in its care. Its continued failures over decades to fulfil this duty of care must be addressed.
While the inquiry’s report spans experiences from 1950 – 1999, we know that widespread abuse in State and faith-based care did not end then. The inquiry has heard from rangatahi who have experienced abuse in care much more recently.
In fact, we know that abuse in the state care and protection and youth justice system is continuing to harm children and young people. The report highlights the over-representation and harsher treatment of certain groups, particularly tamariki and rangatahi Māori, resulting in intergenerational impacts on survivors’ children and grandchildren, and collectively by hapū and iwi.
Every case of child abuse, neglect and maltreatment is one too many. This is not a one-off call to action, but something we need to work continuously on as a nation.”
– Claire Achmad, chief children’s commissioner
‘A road map for improving the treatment of those abused in care’
“Whanaketia is a clarion call for change. The finding that around 200,000 people were abused in care between 1950 and 2019 underlines the unarguable reality that out-of-home care has been systemically injurious in Aotearoa. Survivors will welcome the Royal Commission’s insistence that the government move ‘as an immediate priority’ to implement an independent and fit-for-purpose redress programme and require religious organisations to join that single, unified programme.
The bulk of the report’s 138 recommendations constitute a road map for improving the treatment of those abused in care by transforming Aotearoa’s existing care system. With a 10-year timeline, the commission recommends that the government focus on supporting people to remain in their families and communities. Where that is impossible, out-of-home care should be short-term and ‘delivered by the community, hapū or collective’, with the individual and their whānau retaining control over key decisions.”
– Stephen Winter, associate professor of politics and international relations at the University of Auckland, member of the High Level Design Group for Redress in 2023
Health professionals must commit to exposing current occurrences of abuse
“Much of this abuse occurred within the health system under the care, supervision, or jurisdiction of health professionals. We as clinicians need to own our roles in enabling this abuse and our critical role in ongoing safeguarding and advocacy to ensure that it never happens again. Most importantly we each need to be committed to exposing current occurrences of abuse, dismantling the institutions which perpetuate the imbalance of power between the system and patients, and supporting everyone in our care to have their voices heard, believed, and acted upon.”
– Tristan Ingham, Otago University research, medical professional and member of the Royal Commission Disability Reference Group