Without action, an apology will be empty air – Greens

For tomorrow’s apology to survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care to hold any water, the Government must not pursue the same policies that drove the abuse in the first place.

“An apology without accountability – or worse, actively perpetuating the same harms – is nothing more than empty air” says the Green Party’s Spokesperson for Children, Kahurangi Carter.

“This Government has a responsibility to ensure that no one ever again suffers the horrific abuses these survivors have. The Government must fully implement all 138 recommendations which resulted from the Inquiry, honour the principles of Te Tiriti, and critically, stop the boot camp programmes that perpetuate colonial tools of control.

“The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care provided us with harrowing testimony from survivors as well as invaluable insight into how we failed as a society and how we must change. The recommendations for how to address this legacy of abuse are clear. But what’s also clear is that the Government’s policies are going in a different direction.

“Labelling children and young people as serious offenders and sending them to boot camps while removing Treaty provisions in the Oranga Tamariki Act is resorting to the very patterns that drove the abuse detailed in the Inquiry. These rangatahi are among the most neglected, abused, and vulnerable in our society – the last thing they need is more punishment and cultural dislocation.

“The Government is unapologetic for pursuing the same policies that harmed the very survivors they are this week apologising to. This is an affront to approximately 250,000 survivors.

“Without actioning the Inquiry’s recommendations, history is doomed to repeat itself, entrenching the cycle of abuse against our most vulnerable who have been disproportionately affected by abuse in state and faith-based care. Māori, Pasifika, Deaf, disabled, those experiencing mental distress, impoverished and Rainbow tamariki have borne the brunt of this abuse.

“The Green Party would ensure that the lessons of the abuse in care inquiry are taken on board by stopping boot camps and replacing youth residences with local community-based support for rangatahi and their whānau.

“We acknowledge and thank all those survivors, whānau, hapū, iwi, communities and support networks who advocated and told their stories throughout the Inquiry,” says Kahurangi Carter.