A Wellington law firm says a proposed Bill that has its first reading in Parliament today is yet another example of the racist and discriminatory legislation this government is passing into law.
The Redress System for Abuse in Care Bill purports to establish a legal presumption that serious violent and sexual offenders are not eligible for financial redress for abuse suffered in State care.
According to law firm, Cooper Legal, the Bill creates serious access to justice issues and threatens to undermine the rule of law.
“The legislation is just another example of this current government’s focus on taking away the rights of indigenous people and of those who are vulnerable and marginalised”, says Cooper Legal Principal Partner, Sonja Cooper.
“This Bill ignores decades of research, which shows there is a direct correlation between State care and the adult criminal justice system.
“It is very concerning that this government thinks it is fair and just to deny redress to people who in essence, the State, created.
“The State created the gangs. The State introduced many young children to crime. And most importantly, the State, through its employees, raped and beat the people whose rights it is now trying to take away.
“It is shocking that in this day and age, our government thinks it is acceptable to introduce a Bill that penalises a person and prevents them from seeking redress for abuse and neglect based on what that person did in later life.
“We know our prison population is made up of a disproportionate number of Māori males, so we cannot help but question whether there is a deeper racist element to this legislation. The Bill definitely creates issues of indirect discrimination, even if this was not directly intentional.
“One thing is clear; this government has completely and utterly failed survivors of abuse in care. It has not listened to the Royal Commission. It will not listen to survivors or their advocates, and it will simply plough ahead with bad law to show it can do what it wants.
“As we see it, the government’s approach is chilling and encroaches on the rule of law. The survivors impacted by this Bill have paid their debt to society for offences committed as an adult. Now the State should pay its debt to the survivors for the abuse and neglect it subjected those survivors to as children”, says Cooper Legal Principal, Lydia Oosterhoff.
“On the one hand, it is a form of double jeopardy to re-punish the survivor for offending that they have already been incarcerated for.
“On the other hand, the State walks away without penalty and does not need to take any ownership for the role it played in creating the adults we see today.
“This new Bill is highly unfair, unjust and discriminatory. Worst of all, it tramples all over the hard work the Royal Commission did to hold the State to account for the harm it has caused, and continues to cause, to society’s most vulnerable.
“The Bill also makes a complete mockery of the apology given by the Prime Minister and State officials nearly a year ago.
“The State’s redress schemes are already so miserly, it is insulting to survivors to further limit redress by adding to the already onerous eligibility criteria and discriminating against those who have been abused.
“We are well and truly convinced this government does not give a toss about survivors. We just hope that if Labour gets in next year, it will do better”, Ms Cooper and Ms Oosterhoff concluded.