A law firm is concerned that comments made recently by multiple Cabinet Ministers and Members of Parliament regarding redress for survivors of abuse in State care are misleading and causing further trauma.

As part of the Government’s pre-budget announcement for survivors of abuse in State care, the Minister responsible for the response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care (Royal Commission) announced that survivors of particularly ‘egregious harm’ would be entitled to additional compensation.

“Yesterday we found out that any additional payment of that kind is a myth”, say Cooper Legal Principal Partner, Sonja Cooper and Senior Associate, Lydia Oosterhoff.

“We have multiple clients who were subjected to highly egregious harm. Harm that was so egregious in fact that we consider it meets the threshold for torture.

“Naturally, after the Minister’s announcement and after multiple comments made in the House last week, we met with the Crown Response Office, MSD and MOE yesterday to ask how these claimants could get this extra redress they were reportedly entitled to.

“Shockingly, we were told no extra payment exists, this is simply part of the current redress system already available to survivors.

“We consider these statements are misleading and are yet another example of the State trying to effectively pull the wool over survivors’ eyes.

“Time and time again, the government has broken promise after promise it has made to survivors. This is just another example of the State pretending to give with one hand, while actually taking away with the other.

“The announcement itself was disappointing enough for survivors. Now they are being told parts of the announcement were just smoke and mirrors. Quite frankly, it’s shocking, but it is nothing less than we have come to expect.

“We can let the government know one thing though, we will not take this lying down. As lawyers and advocates for survivors of abuse in State care, we will hold the State to account.

“If we need to, we will litigate the government’s actions, or lack thereof, in responding to the Royal Commission’s recommendations.

“It is highly cynical that yet again, this government is saying it has heard survivors, and it wants to do right by them, while giving false hope about what kind of redress they are entitled to.

“After years of abuse and being re-traumatised, survivors deserve more from the State that abused them in the first place. Unfortunately, we’re not holding our breath that they will receive anything like what they are entitled to”, Ms Cooper and Ms Oosterhoff concluded.

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