One week out from the Prime Minister’s national apology to survivors of abuse in State care, a law firm representing survivors is disappointed that the State is letting survivors down yet again.

Cooper Legal’s Principal Partner, Sonja Cooper says that survivors have been waiting a long time for this apology and she really hoped the Government would use this as an opportunity to right the wrongs of the past.

“Our clients were both hopeful and naturally, very worried about what the Prime Minister will say next Tuesday. To hear this morning that the Government does not intend to make any announcements about redress is frankly frustrating and shows that this Government is not committed to survivors.

“An apology that is not coupled with a commitment to change is simply hollow and will be yet another kick in the teeth for survivors who have been let down repeatedly by the State.

“We have to realise that these are highly traumatised people, who were abused by those paid by the State to look after them, often when they were at their most vulnerable.

“We were hoping that the Government would use this historic event to announce how it intends to implement the Royal Commission’s recommendations, especially around redress.

“The Government has had the Royal Commission’s interim redress report since December 2021, so the failure to take steps to implement an equitable redress scheme for survivors falls at the feet of successive Governments.

“To date the Government has not signalled what it intends to do to respond to 100s of recommendations made by the Royal Commission, apart from announcing the apology.

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“This apology would have provided the perfect opportunity for the Prime Minister to restore survivors’ faith that the Royal Commission has been listened to, especially in relation to redress. Unfortunately, we now know that survivors’ trust in the State was yet again unfounded.

“Survivors desperately need to know how the Government intends to implement equitable redress for all survivors of State care. The redress schemes that the State currently has in place are woefully inadequate and completely out of step with overseas jurisdictions.

“For example, $30,000 is the highest payment a survivor of serious sexual and physical abuse as a child can get under the Ministry of Social Development’s Rapid Payment Framework, a Framework that MSD asserts was set up to respond to the Royal Commission’s interim redress report.

“Not only are these payments lower than payments survivors received more than 10 years ago, the payments have not been adjusted for inflation or to recognise the rising cost of living. Nor do the payments recognise that we now know a lot more about how insidious abuse was in New Zealand.

“We know from actuarial reports that a child who was abused in State care will likely lose earnings of between $650,000 and $900,000 in their lifetime. How does a paltry payment of up to $30,000 seem like adequate redress?

“In comparison, survivors of abuse at Dilworth School have been offered up to $300,000 for serious abuse.

“What we are also very concerned about is that survivors are required to sign full and final settlement agreements. This includes a clause that says that a survivor who settles will only be able to access any independent redress scheme, ‘if the scheme allows’.

“So far, we have been told nothing about what an independent redress scheme looks like, who can access it, or even if it will be created.

“If the Government was committed to doing right by survivors, the Prime Minister needed to use this opportunity at the apology to announce how the Government intends to implement the Royal Commission’s findings. Instead, the Government is yet again minimising the experiences of survivors who continue to live marginalised and impoverished lives,” Ms Cooper concluded.

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