Government legalises debts for survivors of sexual violence and abuse in state care – Green

The Government today passed legislation entrenching nearly 40,000 people, including many sexual abuse and abuse in state care survivors in debt.

Pushing survivors of sexual abuse, survivors of abuse in care and injured people into debt is cruel and inhumane,” said Green Party spokesperson for social development Ricardo Menéndez March.

“The Government had every opportunity to not entrench an unlawful policy that has harmed survivors of abuse. They were asked to exempt them, but today they refused.

“Just over a year ago, the Government stood in Parliament and apologised to survivors of abuse in state care. Today they passed a law that will continue to harm many of those same survivors. That is a betrayal.

“The High Court ruled that what MSD was doing was wrong. Instead of accepting that ruling, the Government rushed through retrospective legislation to override it, ignoring the warnings of lawyers, health professionals, and community organisations.

“These are not people who were ‘double-dipping.’ They are members of our community who relied on welfare support in good faith while waiting months or years for ACC to accept their claims. The system failed them, and now the Government is punishing them for it.

“Survivors of sexual abuse and survivors of abuse in care often have to go through long, retraumatising processes to access support from ACC while on welfare.

“The delays they face only add to the debt that is slapped on them once they finally receive support for rehabilitation. This is opposite to the claims from the Government that this bill is about equity.

“The Greens voted against this bill because we refuse to be part of a Parliament that punishes people for being injured, for being poor, or for surviving abuse,” said Menéndez March.