There is a terrible hypocrisy in todays supposed apology to all those NZ children tortured, sexually abused, beaten and emotionally scarred in State ‘care’.
Put aside the huge amount of effort the State went to hiding all of this abuse.
Put aside the despicable and disgusting actions by the State to discredit and silence those abused.
Put aside the pittance being paid out.
Put aside the survivors who have committed suicide.
Put all that aside – the naked brutal horrific truth is that this Government is perpetrating the exact same level of abuse of Kiwis in state care that has always existed.
The recent unbelievably heavy handed policing in Opotoki where mothers and grandmothers were strip searched and 3 year olds locked alone in the back of police cars.
The new military boot camps that will use force in the exact same manner the previous failed boot camps did.
The broken youth prison system, the broken adult prison system, the throwing people onto the streets, the denying welfare, the cruelty and malice all so aggrieved rednecks can feel superior – ALL OF THAT hasn’t;’t changed at all.
The State is still brutal to those it is tasked to protect.
Todays apology is hollow bullshit and it’s on every single one of us.
80% of Gang Members were abused in State Care – you want less Gang Members? Stop abusing children in state care!
Hundreds of thousands of our fellow citizens were abused at the hands of the State and we are still abusing them.
We are lonely empty fears crowded together on these Shakey Isles, we sit on the edge of a vast Pacific Ocean all alone with only the braying of the rich landlord class telling us forever how hard done by they are while the pain of existence under the casual violence of the NZ state stations everything it touches.
We are a bitter redneck people with a low imagination horizon fixated on Rugby, Cow Udders and white 19th century settler privilege. We have all the cultural maturity of a can of day old coke cola and the naked ignorance of how our State abused so many children without any consequence whatsoever should shame us.
It doesn’t shame us and we continue to abuse today to ensure the social infrastructure remains intact and our petty bigotries of our tiny natures worshipped beyond all else.
God Defend New Zealand, because New Zealanders sure as fuck won’t.
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Another lie coming up from Luxon today .His favorite saying is I DONT CARE .
In a sense, we are all in the “care” of the colonialist state and we have all been subject to decades of abuse. The “abuse in care” scandal is not an exception, aberration or anomaly from the normal working of the state. It is the extreme, sharp end of the abuses perpetrated by the colonialist regime throughout its brutal history. The victims and survivors naturally want an apology. They are also entitled to redress and compensation. But that will not be sufficient. There will be no closure until colonialism has been completely abolished from the land of Aotearoa.
well put Geoff I have to agree 100%.This goes way back to before the treaty when the colonists decided they wanted more .As a kiwi with ancestry from both sides I was once conflicted but after a bit of self education I am no longer in that limbo .Maori have well and truly been done over by the colonists and are once again under attack .
So list what action Labour had taken since the report came out in 2021. It seems all political parties need to step up their game on this sad time and make sure it is not repeated
Agree Trevor that Labour has been missing in action. But at least they had an enquiry. Bill English refused to have one stating nothing to be gained here. Disgusting attitude no doubt influenced by his Roman Catholic faith, fully knowing any broadening of an enquiry into abuse would show the church up to be the sick hypocrits they are.
Can the abusers also say they abuse because they were abused? Is it abuse all the way down? Sooner or later we just have to look at the crime rather than the feeling because we could start to justify thugs harming communities because they feel like it. Even the media and governments will join in with support like they did to cover for the poor me racist Israeli hooligans terrorizing innocent Dutch citizens (how t.f. these people were able to enter another country let alone play soccer is anyone’s guess). The poor me Israelis were justified in harming innocent communities because the poor me Israelis were actually forced to murder thousands of kids: they abuse because they were abused, Israel is actually the victim and will forever remain the victim with impunity. We must always remember Israeli victimhood because their ancestors were subject to holocaust (the third worst genocide in history by numbers it turns out but the only genocide that matters it seems).
If it is ” abuse all the way down” I suggest you look up the mental health term Trauma Informed Care and the psycho- social aspects to your question.
Look to that in so much as answering why they themselves abuse. Only then will you start to understand.
Govts of the day, are not judged on how well they do on the easy decisions. In terms of redress, that’s a more complicated situation, because its like having a very large power bill sitting on your fridge, that has no due by date. Why get around to paying it, if you already have many other bills? The current coalition Govt was very quick to approve the re-introduction of 2.9 billion investment property tax deductibility, because that was the priority and I’m not begrudging that, but addressing abuse in care compensation is an equally important priority, and needs to be treated with the same urgency.
And this is entirely possible, by putting on hold any further investment property tax deductibility, until the compensation system for past and future abuse in care, is implemented. Who would say no to this? Would Luxon? Would Willis? Could ACC be trusted to do it? Having proper compensation will encourage the state to do everything (not just do its best or do more or do better) to reduce further abuse in care. You’d think no one wants further abuse in care, yet so many facilitated it by doing nothing, like some cognitive dissonance collective mental illness nimbyism, until it happens to someone close and burly reality slaps you in the face.
I’m not a student of the history, but to me these issues of widespread covering of backsides in the public service, at the behest and encouragement and will of past Govts, may in part stem from the origin of the country – in that at some point, decisions made by persons, either public servants, military officers, the New Zealand company, the British, etc, displaced the original occupants of the country and assumed ownership of much of the land. You can’t get away from it, no matter how much time goes past, or how many fancy lawyers you throw at it, how many Una Jagose’s, or how many treaty principals Bills you debate to first reading – what’s happened has happened, the same as abuse that’s happened, has happened.
1. To stop the Govt tactic of using indefinite delay, since the Govt is ongoing but victims life spans are finite – then enshrine it, that any abuse in care issue that has been made as an official complaint to the authorities, by the victim or their guardian or their Epoa, can carry on after the victim ceases to carry on and compensation paid to the beneficiaries of the persons estate. And Govt delaying tactics be seen for what they are, a knowing obfuscation of guilt and responsibility. No Charles Manson tactics.
2. To address public sector covering up, ensure that the person that puts their name to any decision to not properly deal with allegations of abuse, even though that person may say they are just following the directions of their superiors. If they put their name to the decision to cover up, then they carry the can, and get charged as an accessory after the fact. And if others also had input, that is secondary and cannot be used to reduce responsibility. No Nuremberg defense.
I thought when I read about the bloke living in his with his son complaining about the $431m of state housing being cancelled that this government is continuing the abuse of the less fortunate in a way that not many think about.
Is being forced to be homeless for 4 years while you see housing plans cancelled, hospitals not being built, schools rotting, less police, mental health being provided by Mike King while professionals are having funding cut too much different from the horrors inflicted on those in state care.
Those currently being abandoned by the state are going to have equally difficult and horrible outcomes to those currently being focussed on.
It is probably easier to make slimy apologies for the past sins of your predecessor than to deal with the reality of today.
I wonder what we will see from the covid enquiry now Act and NZ First have taken it over.
Funny how tougher laws prosecuting child abusers and exposing them is not part of the Royal Commission review-of coarse not
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