Tuesday, 12 November 2024

Volume 779

Sitting date: 12 November 2024

TUESDAY, 12 NOVEMBER 2024

The Speaker took the Chair at 11.30 a.m.

Karakia/prayers

SPEAKER: Almighty God, we give thanks for the blessings which have been bestowed on us. Laying aside all personal interests, we acknowledge the King and pray for guidance in our deliberations, that we may conduct the affairs of this House with wisdom, justice, mercy, and humility for the welfare and peace of New Zealand. Amen.

crown apology to survivors of abuse in care

SPEAKER: Welcome to all of you who have come here today for this historic occasion. The Business Committee has determined that the Prime Minister will deliver the Crown apology to the survivors of abuse in State care. That speech will be followed by a speech by the Leader of the Opposition, and at the conclusion of the two speeches, there will be a waiata.

Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON (Prime Minister): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Ngā kura mōrehu, kua ngaro, haere atu rā. Ngā kura mōrehu. E whakawhaiti nei. Kei ngā rangatira. Tēnā koutou katoa.

[Treasured survivors, those that have passed, farewell. Treasured survivors that have gathered here. To the esteemed leaders. Greetings.]

I’d like to welcome you all here today on what is a significant, a sorrowful, but a very important day for you and for all of New Zealand. I would also like to acknowledge all those who are watching and listening in all around the country. I know that this day has been a long time coming. [Interruption]

A disturbance took place in the gallery, and a member of the public was removed on the instruction of the Speaker.

SPEAKER: Might I express to everyone in the gallery our disappointment that your day has begun with such an unacceptable interruption. We know that you come here with goodwill, having put up with so much in your lives and how important today is. Accordingly, I’ll ask the Rt Hon Prime Minister to begin his contribution once again.

Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Well, I would like to welcome you all here today, as I said, on what is a significant, sorrowful, but very important day for you and for our country.

Today, I stand before you as the representative of not only this Government but of all the Governments that have gone before us, to offer a formal and unreserved apology for the abuse that you suffered while in State care, churches, and other faith-based places. It was horrific, it was heartbreaking, it was wrong, and it should never have happened. For many of you, it changed the course of your life, and for that, the Government must take responsibility. I have said it before, but I thank you again for telling New Zealand with clarity and with honesty what happened to you.

The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care was the largest, the longest, and the most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand. More than 2,400 of you were incredibly brave and shared your experiences of the abuse that you suffered while in State care, churches, and other faith-based places—places where you should have been safe and treated with dignity and respect and compassion, but instead you were subjected to horrific abuse and neglect and, in some cases, torture.

In 16 devastating volumes, page after page, your stories left many of us stunned that this could have happened here in New Zealand. But not you. You knew the truth because you lived it, and you have waited and waited for people to start listening to you. Now, New Zealand has listened. Words do matter and I say these words with sincerity: I have read your stories, and I believe you.

It is my duty as the current Prime Minister to formally recognise that the abuse that you suffered should have never happened—recognition that is long overdue. Today, I’m apologising on behalf of the Government to everyone who suﬀered abuse, harm, and neglect while in State care, to make this apology to all survivors on behalf of my own and previous Governments.

You deserved so much better and I am deeply sorry that New Zealand did not do better by you. I am sorry that you were not believed when you came forward to report your abuse. I am sorry that many bystanders—staff, volunteers, and carers—turned a blind eye and failed to stop or report abuse. I am sorry that the State’s oversight of people in care was so poor. I am sorry that many abusers were not made to face justice, which meant that other people experienced abuse that could have been prevented. I am sorry that the State did not act quickly and boldly enough to put much better protection in place for people in all care locations, and that those acting on behalf of the Crown lost sight of you: the people behind the claims.

Everyone in care was vulnerable to abuse, but some people suﬀered even more because of who they were. Many Māori, Paciﬁc, Deaf, and disabled people suﬀered harsher treatment than others. Māori and Pacific children suﬀered racial discrimination and disconnection from their families, language, and culture. Blind children were denied access to Braille books. Deaf children were punished for using sign language. Children and vulnerable adults with intellectual disabilities were not supported to learn or communicate. Some children and adults in care were targeted because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Some mothers were pressured or coerced by the State to give up their babies for adoption, often leading to long years of mental suﬀering for them and their children who they were forced to give up.

To all of you, I am sorry. I acknowledge the abuse had a devastating impact not only on you but also the people closest to you—your partners, children, and grandchildren.

Some parents were told that putting their children into State care was the right thing to do; very often, it was not. To those parents, I am sorry that we did not care for your children as if they were our own.

To those of you who were tortured at Lake Alice—young, alone, and subjected to unimaginable pain—I am deeply sorry.

I’d like to acknowledge those who are not alive to hear this apology: today, we feel you are here with us, and I extend this apology to you, your families, and whānau.

I want to acknowledge those of you who struggled to get help from Government agencies when you came forward to report your abuse. This has meant you have had to re-live your trauma over and over again. Agencies should have done better and must commit to doing so in the future.

Many of you were denied knowledge of what happened to you because record-keeping during your time in care was so poor or deliberately inaccurate. Your own personal information was often withheld, destroyed, lost, wrong, or incomplete. Often, there was no record of your origins, your family and whānau, the harm that you experienced, the complaints that you made, your medical treatments, or what social workers said about you. I am sorry.

I stand alongside the chief executives from seven Government agencies who have, this morning, apologised for the failings and omissions by their own agencies and departments. Some faith-based organisations are making their own apologies. I strongly encourage them all to do so, to honour the survivors who were abused while in their care. The Government has written to church leaders to let them know our expectation is that they will do the right thing and contribute to the redress process.

No apology can right the wrongs of the past. Some of you may feel my words count for little, after so long and so much hurt. But one of my hopes is that today, with this apology and this acknowledgement of your burden, it becomes a little lighter for you.

Clearly, words must be accompanied by actions. For me, there are two big lessons from the royal commission of inquiry that we must act on quickly and we must act on thoroughly. First, we must do the right thing by you and provide you with the support that you need. Second, we must do all we can to prevent abuse happening in the future.

It is important to note that not all care was abusive, and certainly not all caregivers. There are many New Zealanders who have formed loving and lifelong bonds with the foster families who have opened their doors and hearts to them. I do want to thank those who have provided loving and appropriate care in the past, and those who continue to do so today. The royal commission itself said that by 1999 there had been improvements to the care system. But we must do better; we must do better at improving the experience of those in care, and we must do better at ensuring fewer people end up in State care in the first place.

The royal commission made 138 recommendations for change. The Government is carefully considering each of those recommendations. I am heartened at the words of support from the Leader of the Opposition and also the other parties in this Parliament, to put politics to one side and to work together to achieve lasting change.

Today, I want to provide you with some more detail about our intentions. The Government’s response is focused on three areas: firstly, acknowledging the abuse through the tabling of the report and this formal apology; secondly, supporting survivors; and thirdly, preventing abuse from happening in the future. I am pleased to announce today the Government has completed or started work on 28 recommendations in the report. To demonstrate our commitment to change, this afternoon a bill that will introduce a range of measures to improve the safety of children and vulnerable adults in State care will have its first reading here in Parliament.

I know that financial redress is important to many of you, and no amount of money will ever make up for what you have endured, but today I want to provide you with some details around the next steps. Many of you, understandably, do not want to engage with the current redress system. Some parts of it are 20 years old and it can take up to five years for your claims to be addressed. However, there are also 3,500 of you who are engaging with the current system so today I am announcing the Government will invest an additional $32 million to increase capacity in the current system while we work on the new redress system. This funding will increase resources and help ensure the system is more responsive to your needs now. But I want to assure you today that it is our intention to have a new single redress system operating next year.

While financial redress is important to some of you, others of you are looking for easier access to support services, so the Government will establish a $2 million fund that will support organisations that are already working well with you as survivors. This will help you to navigate and access the support that you need more easily.

One of the most important things we can do in light of the royal commission of inquiry is to improve the safeguards to prevent the abuse of children and vulnerable adults in care. The system has already improved markedly since the 50-year period to 1999 that the royal commission focused on. Back then, many people in care were in large institutions. Today, the vast majority are in the care of households or small-scale, community-based care places. There have been improvements in areas like professional standards, staﬀ training and vetting, and complaints procedures. But the royal commission made a number of recommendations around further improvements, which the Government will carefully consider. We have started the process to remove the ability to strip search children in care, provide new search powers for people visiting youth justice facilities, and to strengthen restrictions for people working with young children. We will also change the Crimes Act to better recognise disabled people and will improve record keeping in Government agencies. I would like to thank the other political parties for their support in progressing this bill today.

I know that raising public awareness to help prevent future abuse is important to you as, for decades, many of you suffered in silence. Today, I am announcing a National Remembrance Day will be held on 12 November next year to mark the one-year anniversary of this apology. This will provide us with an opportunity to stop and to reflect on what you endured, and to ensure we are doing all we can to prevent future abuse.

Today, I can also tell you we will start work on removing—immediately—memorials including street names, public amenities, and public honours of proven perpetrators. We will also work with local authorities to honour and care for unmarked graves located on sites that were places of care in New Zealand.

Before I close, I want to say that to have hope, however bleak your circumstances, is an important part of being human. I know there are survivors among you who have managed to overcome what happened to you and have gone on to lead full lives and have ensured abuse was never part of your own children’s lives. I applaud breaking that cycle that too often hangs like a curse over families. It does not mean you have forgotten or forgiven what occurred. However, you have been able to pierce the darkness with the light of hope and work through what you endured, to take opportunities, and find pleasure in life.

My hope is that today allows more of you to find a little more light, because while today is about your past it is also about your future. It’s also about the future of others who may find themselves in care. They will have a better experience thanks to your voice, your courage, and your persistence. It is on all of us now to do all that we can to ensure that abuse that should never have been accepted, no longer occurs. That will be an enduring legacy of your contribution to changing the system, and this and future Governments’ commitment to implementing that change.

I would like to say, again, and to thank all of those who told their stories: you have been heard, and you have been believed. You have helped achieve what you must have wished for yourselves: better protection to prevent the suffering of vulnerable and voiceless people. I would like to acknowledge those of you—the wounded healers—who, despite the trauma that you have been through yourselves, have helped to advocate for other survivors. That is selfless.

I thank the royal commission staff and commissioners; I thank all those continuing to work on this response. I would like to thank the Leader of the Opposition, Chris Hipkins, and all of the other political parties who have worked with us on this day. I also want to thank those many, many good people in social services who go out, day after difficult day, to try to help to protect those who are in danger, to strengthen those who are weak, and to support those who are vulnerable.

Finally, to you, the survivors of abuse in care: I hope this apology may help your healing. What happened is part of your life story, but not the only part. This apology, which you may each take as personal, is now part of your story, too. I would like to end with a karakia from Waihoroi Shortland:

Your truth we are challenged to uphold,

Your courage we are bound to honour,

And your right to be heard we receive with privilege.

Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Rt Hon CHRIS HIPKINS (Leader of the Opposition): Kia hiwa rā, kia hiwa rā. Kia hiwa rā ki tēnei tuku, kia hiwa rā ki tērā tuku. Kia tū, kia oho, kia mataara. Tihei mauri ora.

Ki te hunga kua riro ki te pō, moe mai, moe mai, moe mai rā koutou.

Ki ngā mōrehu kua tae mai, tēnā koutou. Koutou ngā mōrehu e mātakitaki mai nā, e whakarongo mai nā huri noa i te motu, tēnā koutou.

He tū whakaiti tēnei ki te whakapāha atu ki a koutou, ngā mōrehu, mō ngā tini tūkinotanga, ngā taimahatanga, me te mamae. Aue, taukuri e.

[Be vigilant, be alert. Be alert at this terrace, be alert on that terrace. Arise, awaken, remain sharp. It is the breath of life.

To those who have gone into the darkness, rest in peace.

To the survivors who have arrived, greetings. To you, the survivors that are watching and listening all around the country, greetings to you.

I stand to humbly apologise to you, the survivors, for the many abuses, difficulties, and the anguish. Oh my, such anguish.]

Can I start by acknowledging and fully supporting the words of the Prime Minister in delivering the formal apology on behalf of successive Governments who have failed you, survivors, your families, whānau, kāinga, hapū, iwi, your communities, your support networks, and New Zealand as a nation. I want to acknowledge all of you—those who are physically here at Parliament today, those who are watching all across the country, those who find it too painful to engage in this process at all, and those who have died before today finally arrived.

Among the community of survivors are many intersecting communities who have jointly suffered from neglect, from abuse, from trauma, from torture, and they have carried their scars over lifetimes and over generations: Māori survivors, Pacific survivors, Pākehā survivors, Deaf survivors, disabled survivors, survivors who experienced mental distress, takatāpui, mahu, vakasalewa, palopa, fa‘afafine, ‘akavai‘ne, fakaleiti, fakafifine, and all rainbow survivors. Today is a hugely important day for all of you to finally hear what the Crown has failed to give you for all these years: an apology.

It’s a hugely important day for us, the representatives of the Crown and of successive Governments, that we finally—finally—acknowledge the thousands of confronting experiences of neglect, abuse, trauma, torture, and that we finally own up fully to our failings and offer our sincerest apologies. We are sorry. Today, all of Aotearoa New Zealand will bear witness to the truth: to what survivors experienced, to our decades of wilful ignorance, denial, minimisation, and to our conviction to end such horror and vile acts from continuing.

As the royal commission found, around 250,000 people were abused, and an even higher, untold number neglected. We will never know that true number. Many people entering into State and faith-based institutions were undocumented, records were incomplete, they’ve gone missing, and in some cases, yes, they were deliberately destroyed. Every corner of New Zealand has been affected by this abuse—a family member, a neighbour, a colleague, a friend.

In 2018, we started the long-overdue process of acknowledging that the abuse happened, and so we could hear from those who have had to live with the repercussions of that. To those who shared your stories with the inquiry, thank you. To those who’ve chosen not to recount those memories, we wholeheartedly understand. To those who died before they were given the opportunity to be heard, rest knowing that you are heard today. I give my thanks to all of those who were involved—to the commissioners, assisting counsel, the Survivor Advisory Group of Experts—I can name but a handful, but my gratitude goes out to everyone who was instrumental in this inquiry. It was an enormous task.

While necessary and welcomed, for many the inquiry and associated events stir up and exacerbate the pain and the suffering, and I know that, for many, today will be painful. The things that we speak about today rise from the worst of human nature. They show us how immoral and reprehensible it is that we, as the Crown, not only allowed it to happen and ignored it, but further punished those who spoke out. I want you to hear that we have heard—that, while we can never fully understand what these experiences were like for you, we have heard your testimonies.

The royal commission shows us that many survivors who entered State or faith-based care and institutions were forced into them due to discriminatory attitudes and harsh conditions that were beyond their control: racism, ableism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and cruel attitudes towards people who simply needed support. What these people—what you, the survivors, and your loved ones—experienced spans an unimaginable spectrum of horror; horror perpetuated within a system that allowed it, by people who you should have been able to trust: caregivers, staff, peers, other residents, police, medical practitioners, teachers, social workers, nurses, nuns, priests, and religious ministers.

You lived without care, affection, love, emotional support, and connection. Many of you experienced psychological and emotional neglect and abuse: being institutionalised and denied your personhood. Physical and sexual abuse and violence was a common experience. Many were deprived of an education or punished for having special needs. Deaf survivors were punished for using sign language. Blind survivors were punished for using echolocation. Survivors also experienced physical neglect. They were denied food, shelter, water, basic hygiene. Female survivors were often denied menstrual products. Many were placed in solitary confinement, often for long periods of time, and neglected whilst there.

Survivors were not allowed to express who they were, and they were often punished when they did so. Too many were neglected medically, yet also subjected to unnecessary and invasive procedures without consent, and some of you were tortured. All of this at the hands of State and faith-based institutions that were entrusted with providing care and protection to you, taonga, who should have been loved and nurtured. Not only has this immeasurable harm and trauma hurt you—the children, young people, and vulnerable adults who experienced it directly—but also your families, your whānau, your kāinga, your hapū, iwi, and communities. The intergenerational and collective harm caused cannot be overstated. Survivors were often targeted based on race, sexual orientation, disability, and gender, and isolated from their cultures, their language, their sense of self, and from their families.

Māori survivors found themselves in a system that inherently worked against them, and care settings that were blatantly racist. Many Māori survivors were made to feel whakamā—shame—at having been stripped of their identity as Māori. Whakapapa and mana motuhake were transgressed, and people were severed from their whānau. Marae, hapū, iwi lost people who would otherwise be sitting on the taumata or the paepae, passing on cultural knowledge.

Pacific survivors were punished for who they were, with their cultural needs and existence not only neglected but actively destroyed. There are stories of Pacific survivors who were told they didn’t belong in this world and that they had no identity. For Pacific survivors, it was not only being actively dislocated from their kāinga, communities, and church but also the harm experienced in various institutions that breached the va‘a, resulting in shame, isolation, and an inability to fully embrace life.

Pākehā survivors were similarly removed from their families, actively isolated from them, and often for nothing more than being poor. Pākehā survivors have suffered lifelong dislocation and disconnection from family and community. Their identity and mana also diminished. We should never overlook the horrors they endured.

Deaf survivors were seen as lesser, forced to communicate only orally. They suffered under audism and ableist attitudes, and they were punished if they were caught using sign language. Education centres for Deaf New Zealanders like van Asch Deaf Education Centre and Kelston Deaf Education Centre should have been safe spaces. Instead, they became a hellscape for students where physical and sexual abuse were rife. Students were constantly belittled, others made to feel inferior.

Disabled survivors were shut away, stigmatised, and devalued for being disabled. They faced all types of abuse and extreme neglect. In their interviews with the inquiry, disabled survivors said that “abuse and neglect caused them to lose their sense of self, their personhood – the ‘essence of being human’ – and connections to their families, communities, cultures and language”.

Mentally distressed survivors were shut away in institutions and experienced the full spectrum of abuse, neglect, and trauma that were par for the course in these places. Nothing they experienced was therapeutic or addressed their needs.

Rainbow survivors were forced into institutions and psychiatric wards engulfed in homophobia, where they were mislabelled with different mental health illnesses. Conversion practices were rife as a means to “cure” or to “fix” survivors, including the use of electric shocks. One such institution that used electric shocks and hurt, broke, and tortured those who passed through their doors was the Lake Alice Hospital—a name now synonymous with the experience of trauma, and a shameful part of New Zealand’s history. The horrors committed there and in similar places remain some of the darkest in our history.

Churches and other faith-based entities were also spaces where many suffered. They abused their power to harm people who they were entrusted to care for. Priests, ministers, and other religious leaders—those who should have been trusted—devolved into monsters behind closed doors, and they must also equally be held to account.

Successive Labour Governments, Ministers, ministries, and State institutions had a role to play in this neglect, this abuse, this trauma, this torture. They allowed systems they governed to continue to place children, young people, and vulnerable adults in care unnecessarily, and to hurt them while they were there. When survivors tried to raise the alarm, representatives of Labour also played a role in ignoring, punishing, and shaming survivors, drowning them out so they could never be heard. That was wrong.

Today, I want to tell you on behalf of successive Labour Governments: we also formally and unreservedly say sorry for the neglect, abuse, trauma, and torture that took place in State and faith-based care institutions. We apologise for ignoring you, for punishing you for speaking out, and for leaving you unsafe and unheard. Today, I want to confirm that we hear you. We hear all of you, and we are sorry that that took so long. To each and every one of you who endured all that suffering, to your families, your children, mokopuna, your kāinga, your hapū, your iwi, your communities: we see your scars and we hear you. And we are sorry. You should have been safe, protected, and believed—and you were not. That is the ultimate injustice that we, as representatives of the Crown, must also bear the burden of.

I am sorry that the last Labour Government did not act more quickly to put in place an independent redress system. We, the Government, and representatives of the Crown, owe a huge debt to you. Redress has taken far, far too long, to the point where many have already died or fear they might do so before getting any compensation. Redress should be kept out of the court system, and it should be seen as an investment in our people. It’s a national disgrace that it has taken us too long. I want to confirm that for the serious matter of redress and compensating survivors, we’re taking the politics off the table. We’re committing to finally paying back this debt. We welcome the Government’s action to streamline that process, and we stand ready to work together to get this done as quickly and as efficiently as possible. There will be a big bill, but it’s nothing compared to the debt that we owe those survivors. It must not be the reason for any further delay.

I’m under no illusions that neglect, abuse, and trauma in State care still happens today. For this apology to have any credibility, we must take concrete action to stop it. You’ve heard words before and now you want action—I hear you. One of the many things that sticks with me from reading the report, and from the accounts that we heard this morning, is that survivors emphasise time and again that they don’t want what happened to them to happen to one more person. For many of you, this is just as an important part of seeking justice, and we have enormous work to do.

The inquiry and this apology must be a turning point, a point from which to embark on a pathway for us to not only right these historic wrongs but also fundamentally change our care system, change it so that State care is rarely necessary. When I met with Keith Wiffin to discuss my speech, he said to me, “The best prevention for abuse in State care is to keep people out of it in the first place.”, and I wholeheartedly agree. When people are in care it should be a safe and warm space for all, as it should always have been.

We welcome and support the Government’s commitment and beginning the work to improve the safeguards for those in State care. There is much, much work to do, and we must not waste one more day. We also support the Government to work with local authorities to honour the unmarked graves and to remove the names of proven perpetrators from public places. For the guilty who remain nameless, we encourage the Government to ensure that all is done to hold those perpetrators to account.

I want to acknowledge, in closing, that for some and perhaps many of you there will never be healing and closure. My hope is that this apology today offers at least some relief—that your fight to be heard has resulted in this apology.

Now is the time to forge a new pathway forwards. The royal commission set out survivors’ dreams for the future—he māra tipu, a garden of growth—where every child, young person, and adult is loved, safe, and cared for in a manner that supports their growth and development into a thriving contributor to society. That’s my dream too, and I hope that together we can achieve it for generations to come, and never, ever again repeat the mistakes of the past. Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

Waiata—“Purea Nei”

SPEAKER: The House is suspended until 2 p.m.

Sitting suspended from 12.19 p.m. to 2 p.m.

Bills

Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill

Introduction

SPEAKER: I understand the Government has introduced a bill.

CLERK: Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill, introduction.

SPEAKER: That bill is set down for first reading immediately.

First Reading

Hon ERICA STANFORD (Lead Coordination Minister for the Government’s Response to the Royal Commission’s Report into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions): I present a legislative statement on the Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill.

SPEAKER: That legislative statement is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.

Hon ERICA STANFORD: I move, That the Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Social Services and Community Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time, I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 14 March 2025.

Firstly, I would like to start my speech by acknowledging all of the survivors of abuse in care who have been at Parliament today and at all of the other events around the country and watching online from around New Zealand and indeed around the world. November 12 will forever be a day of historical significance for New Zealand, and, today, the Crown formally apologised for the horrific abuse—and, yes, torture—that took place over decades in care. Children and vulnerable adults who should have been safe and cared for were not, and many of those people have carried the scars of their time in State and faith-based care their whole lives.

Some survivors did not live to hear this House state clearly and unequivocally that what happened to them was wrong and admit the failings of the State in turning a blind eye; having inadequate safeguarding and complaints processes; failing to properly investigate perpetrators of abuse; and, in some instances, colluding to cover up what happened or trying to prevent the truth from being told for reasons of risk, liability, and reputation.

Today marks both the end but also the beginning. The end of the Crown refusing to admit what happened to people in care, but the beginning of responding to the royal commission and what must be an ongoing and unrelenting commitment to the safeguarding and protection of children and of vulnerable adults, because we all know that abuse is not just a historical blight on our country but also an ongoing one. All of us in this House and in New Zealand have read too many heartbreaking reports and reviews of children and vulnerable adults who were not safe when they should have been.

I’d also like to acknowledge my parliamentary colleagues in Labour, the Greens, and Te Pāti Māori for their support for the bill to have its first reading today. While there are many things that we don’t agree on, I know that we have a shared desire to respond to the findings and the recommendations of the royal commission with the seriousness that they deserve and for children and vulnerable adults to be safe in care. I’d also like to thank my colleagues the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Minister of Justice, and the Minister for Children for their contributions.

This bill is not large, but it is an important one. It demonstrates this House’s commitment to change in response to the royal commission and that it’s a priority. The bill will do six things.

It will add requirements to the Oranga Tamariki Act to develop search plans with the children and young people in secure residential care who may be subject to searches. These plans will enable their preferences and experiences to be considered when searches are undertaken. The ability to undertake strip searches will also, importantly, be removed.

It will also improve safety and wellbeing in Oranga Tamariki residential care so that all people can be searched for harmful items using body image scanners on entry to a secure youth justice residence. I’d like to acknowledge that the royal commission recommends that, over time, we transition to a youth justice model that avoids institutional environments. However, we know that will take time. In the meantime, it is incumbent on us to take all possible steps to ensure that children and young people in those residences are kept safe from harm—whether that be from staff, from other young people, or from visitors. I wish that these provisions were not necessary, but it is an unfortunate truth that, every week, people are attempting to smuggle contraband into secure residences that could cause harm.

I believe this bill strikes the right balance in strengthening the ability for Oranga Tamariki to identify contraband before it enters a residence, while removing the legislative provision for the harmful and unnecessary practice of strip searches.

The bill will also clarify the maximum time a child or young person can be placed in secure care. As the Minister of Education, I am proposing an improved process in the Children’s Act for the vetting of people seeking to work with children and young people by making provisions for New Zealand citizens or residents who have worked overseas to be required to disclose overseas convictions. We know that it is likely a rare event that a New Zealand citizen or resident with an undisclosed overseas conviction will seek a role as a core children’s worker. However, we know from the royal commission that there are predators who will look to find and exploit loopholes and weaknesses wherever they find them. If this change prevents even one person from working with children who should not, then it will have done its job. The bill also amends the Crimes Act 1961 so that a disability is included as a specific factor in the definition of a “vulnerable adult”. It will also improve record keeping and the ability to respond to non-compliance with the Public Records Act.

I look forward to other members’ contributions on these matters. My final words, today, are for my parliamentary colleagues on the Social Services and Community Committee. Over the last few months, I have had the privilege of engaging with some survivors of abuse in care. I have found them, unfailingly, to be people of great integrity, mana, grace, and strength who have been gracious to engage with me, even though, for many of them, all that they’ve ever known has been being let down by the Government that was supposed to have cared for them, and yet they still have taken the time to meet with me.

They’ve shared with me confronting stories of what happened to them in care, even though, at times, this has cost them personally to bring up things again that have caused them great pain and trauma. They are often unflinchingly honest in their assessments of where we have failed them and where we need to do better. The survivors who choose to engage with the select committee process are providing us with the opportunity to demonstrate that this House means what it says when we say that their voices are needed and that they are valued.

Three months ago, this bill was just an idea. To have it before us has been a cross-parliamentary effort carried by mutual good faith and a commitment to today’s apology being accompanied by tangible action. I now entrust it to your care at select committee. It has been an honour to take this first call today, and I commend the bill to the House.

Hon CARMEL SEPULONI (Deputy Leader—Labour): Today, I am here to speak in this first reading on the Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill. Given the enormity of today’s kaupapa, the substance of my speech has to be what led to this bill. At the centre of that is, of course, the survivors of abuse in State and faith-based care. I want to acknowledge, in each and every one of those people that are here today, those who couldn’t be with us, and those who will be watching from home, the courage that was required to share your experiences, your truth, and the retraumatising impact of having to do so.

I acknowledge also those that chose not to and the courage you have already demonstrated over the course of your lives with the abuse you suffered serving as a dark backdrop to the achievements that you went on to attain and to the struggles you would have gone on to live through. Those of you who testified during the hearings did so to finally give light to your own personal experiences to hold those to account for what they did; to hold the State, churches, and faith-based organisations to account, who on far too many occasions, as well as perpetuating the abuse, ignored what was happening. You also unselfishly did this to ensure that this is never allowed to happen again.

I want to pay tribute to the many survivors of abuse that didn’t live long enough to bear witness to this apology. All are notable, but I want to make special reference to Sir Robert Martin. His biography, Becoming a Person, provides a graphic account of his life. He gave me a copy of this book when we were both representatives at the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities—well, not really gave me; he was very clear when handing me the book that despite the fact I was the Minister, I needed to pay for it like everybody else. Good cop, Sir Robert! Sir Robert Martin was brain damaged at birth. He was locked away in State facilities to be cared for due to what was deemed mental deficiency. He wasn’t cared for; he was abused. Sir Robert’s experience is shared by far too many disabled people. Despite the most horrendous experiences as a child and young adult, Sir Robert went on to represent New Zealand on the committee for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and to be a national and international advocate for disabled people.

For all of you that were uplifted and put into State and faith-based care and experienced cruelty at the hands of those who were meant to care for and protect you, there have been lifelong repercussions. We cannot understate or underestimate the impact of the abuse you suffered on your wider whānau and subsequent generations of your children and grandchildren. The apology today was for them and for you also.

When we began the process of this royal commission of inquiry, there was much debate over whether churches and faith-based organisations should be included within the scope of the inquiry. The discussions ultimately landed at, in this instance, there being very little, if any, separation between church and State. As a New Zealand - born Pacific person, born and raised in the church, it sickens me to think that the religion that I grew up practising sat as a front to the most evil practices of abuse against children and vulnerable adults. Those working in religious and church-based organisations who inflicted this violence and torture have brought shame on the very ideals that Jesus Christ himself espoused. But the State had a responsibility to monitor and provide assurance for the safety of children, including those that were in the care of churches and faith-based organisations, and it failed to do so.

As a Pacific person, my heart breaks at the thought of that courageous first generation of Pasifika peoples who came to New Zealand—the place deemed to be the land of milk and honey—to work towards a better future for themselves and their children, only in some instances to lose custody of their children to the State, often for the most minor of infringements. I have no doubt that many of the parents and grandparents still had trust and confidence in the State and in the role they would play in caring for their children. This trust and confidence was misplaced. Instead, alongside other survivors, Pasifika were physically, sexually, verbally, and emotionally abused. They were also denied access to their aiga, their language, and culture and were berated for being who they were, which was beautiful tamaiti of Moana-nui-a-kiwa.

I acknowledge all of those who have spoken out. In our culture, we often are in a situation where we’re discouraged from doing so, where we supress these experiences that we have, and where we’re encouraged to get on. So to those many Pasifika people who spoke up, I acknowledge you. Fa’amoana John Luafutu is someone I have had the privilege to get to know, and to all you other Pasifika people that shared your experiences, your truth, thank you for your strength. Today, we are proud of you—proud that you made your voices heard—speaking not only for yourselves but for all other Pasifika who were unable to come forward.

When I reflect as a mother and as a grandmother on the experiences of those abused, these children should be thought of as our children. And the torture, pain, and violence inflicted on so many is something we could never comprehend happening to our own. So how did the State allow this to happen, over a period of decades, allowing the abuse to continue in the shadows because there simply wasn’t the political courage to shine a light on the issues, perhaps out of fear that they would be too difficult to address and too expensive to respond to? The enormity of the challenge seemed to overwhelm to the point of paralysis. I do believe that there were some efforts made, but it was never ever close to enough. Politicians got on, but now it has come to a head.

Today, we’ve heard the apology from the Government. Labour also apologises unreservedly. The apology won’t erase the nightmares that the survivors have lived through or the nightmares they still have to contend with as a consequence of the abuse, but it is an acknowledgment of the State’s role in being complicit to the abuse. We hope it provides a sense of relief and, hopefully, also a window of healing, and hopefully that there will be change for others. We welcome the Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill but recognise wholeheartedly that many of the survivors of abuse in State care will feel that this doesn’t go far enough. These are very small steps to start, but we remain hopeful that bigger strides are taken at pace to respond more fulsomely to the set of recommendations, as laid out in the report, including the implementation of a new Puretumu Torowhānui, or redress system, as a priority.

Finally, I do want to put on record the need to acknowledge the role discrimination has played: discrimination against Māori, Pasifika, disabled people, the poor, and our rainbow community. No one piece of legislation can address this. It is discrimination that led to the disproportionately high numbers of Māori, Pasifika, poor, disabled, and rainbow people being put into State care in the first place—often on the assumption they couldn’t be well cared for by their own whānau. There was a lack of willingness to provide support to whānau where there were challenges, a fundamental belief that there was something wrong with these children, vulnerable adults, and their whānau, and a view that the State could do better. In some instances, ultimately, the view was that it was just in everyone’s best interest that they were locked away.

Societal attitudes have shifted, but the discrimination still exists, and it permeates across everything when it’s allowed to become the acceptable narrative. Government rhetoric and policy should not and cannot reflect these views, or we risk making the same mistakes that we are apologising for today. We do support this bill and commit to working with survivors and the Government to respond more fulsomely to the recommendations in the report. Again, to the survivors of State abuse: we are sorry to you and your whānau that you were not given the care, safety, and protection that you deserve. We must all work together to ensure that this does not continue to happen.

CHLÖE SWARBRICK (Co-Leader—Green): E te Māngai, tēnā koe. Tēnā koutou e te Whare. “Secrets came to this country on the Endeavour.” That’s what Sarah, one of the hundreds of thousands of survivors of abuse in State and faith-based care, told me that she wanted on the public record today when I met her this morning at Pipitea Marae. What Sarah meant is that the system of power and secrets which enabled at least a quarter of a million mōrehu, pēpē, tamariki, and rangatahi to be abused through the decades was brought to this land and established through colonisation and oppression. That is how this State was established. It shouldn’t be a controversial thing to say. These are facts.

As the royal commission into abuse in State and faith-based care details, abuse of power comes as no surprise when that power is built on domination and dehumanisation. In the official apology earlier this afternoon, the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins spoke about how the abuse, torture, and neglect documented in this royal commission represents “the worst of human nature.” While of course I agree about the absolute evil detailed in this inquiry, the words had me reflect on Hannah Arendt’s notion of “the banality of evil”. The systemic abuse of at least a quarter of a million people in the past several decades was not only evil, but it was by definition systematic and, therefore, deeply, profoundly, horrifically ordinary and banal.

This abuse was not an accident. It was not a by-product. It is woven into the fabric of the system. It is woven into power structures that ignore the cries of children. If we want to end abuse and the culture of silence that surrounds and supports it—the way that that harm compounds and grows—we have to uproot the way that power works in this country.

The Prime Minister, the Rt Hon Christopher Luxon, acknowledged earlier today that this abuse “changed the course of your life, and for that, the Government must take responsibility.” Responsibility requires accountability. One of the major components of the bill that we are debating right now, introduced to give some action to the words of this apology, is that it removes the explicit ability for children in so-called youth justice facilities to be strip-searched. It’s a welcome change, but the bar really is that low.

Just a few weeks ago, rangatahi were once again protesting on the roof of one of those youth justice facilities. It was reported that they were protesting about access to food and fresh air. And politicians currently in power—not between 1950 and 1999; currently in power—joked about how these kids wouldn’t be getting access to KFC. That is what I am talking about when I am talking about how banal all of this really is, how interwoven it is to the fabric of the State, how normalised it is.

Now, we can talk about changing the system, or we can change the system. We can tinker, or we can transform. Anything less than transformation is, as one young person put it to me, “just a pastel coat of paint on the same old kid prisons.” Survivors had been adamant that this abuse is not historic. It didn’t start and end between 1950 and 1999. Whānau tell me, as I’m sure that they have written to all politicians in here, that this abuse is happening right now. More so, the consequences of the abuse in State and faith-based care are very much still living among us.

Now, when the Prime Minister talks about the Government and our Parliament taking responsibility for the abuse that changed the course of survivors’ lives, I ask everyone to take a second and reflect on what that really means, because almost all of us can empathise with a 14-year-old boy who has been systematically let down and mistreated. We can understand that his behaviour, learnt as a response to a world that has put him under its heel, is a lashing-out against that world. But how many of us can empathise with the 40year-old man that was once that 14-year-old boy? The man who has been in and out of institutions that have disenfranchised him since he was a young guy. The man who now sits in prison. The man who was once directly abused and tortured by the State, and who now continues to be in its demonstrably neglectful, harmful care.

I am talking about the brothers and mothers and fathers and sisters and cousins and friends that survivors wanted us to acknowledge and mention today, who are not acknowledged in that official apology; nor given, as I understand it, their rightful opportunity to engage with it.

The abuse in State care has filled our prisons and grown gang numbers. That is what the State is responsible for. And taking responsibility means that we can no longer pretend that these consequences of these actions of the State are somehow natural phenomena. A criminal justice system that we all know only serves to produce more harm, more crime, and more victims didn’t just happen. It is designed by people in power in this Parliament, and in 2024, it is being upheld and perpetuated by people in this Parliament.

As of June 2023, around 4,500 young people are in State care in this country. Why? Well, unfortunately, actually, for many of the exact same reasons documented in the royal commission of inquiry into abuse in State care: poverty, lack of access to adequate culturally competent services, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism. These are not historical issues. Unfortunately, in acknowledging this truth, I’m sure that some will say that we’re getting a little bit political. Everything, though, is political because politics isn’t just about political parties; it is about power and resources and who gets to make the decisions that saturate and shape our daily lives.

An anonymous survivor in the royal commission said, “I don’t think anyone should have the power to make decisions about children that they don’t love.” And this is where I see hope and love. While this bill is an important acknowledgement of the need to improve systems to reduce harm, the mahi is not done until we have overhauled the system and put an end to that harm. Fewer people being subjected to atrocity is still people being subjected to atrocity, and all of us should be brave enough to reconcile that while we individually and personally did not perpetuate any of the heinous acts and neglect documented in this royal commission of inquiry, we 123 members of Parliament do benefit personally and individually from the system that did. We sit in the same Chamber and swear the same fealty of allegiance to the same monarchy and the same system that did.

The question for all 123 parliamentarians apologising on behalf of this institution today is whether we are willing to give up that power—whether we are in this place simply to hold on to power or to redistribute it—because the people are coming. This week, tens of thousands—in the largest mobilisation that our country has seen in living memory—are marching to this place to demand that we not only change but transform this system, demanding, as many survivors have, that we honour Te Tiriti o Waitangi me te He Whakaputanga, that we ensure that our people get the systems and the services that they deserve, and that we care not just in words but in action for each other and the planet that we all share. I believe that the people will win, that justice will win, and that love will win.

In the same way that today marks an historic moment, decades in the making, our tomorrow is forged by the collective work that we do today—most fundamentally, in reimagining and in practising love. Ka whawhai tonu mātou, āke, ake, ake.

Hon KAREN CHHOUR (Minister for Children): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I acknowledge that today has been a very emotional and tiring day for many, hearing about things that have happened not only in the past but are also said to continue to be happening to this day.

I was given an incredible opportunity in my life to stand in this House and be as much of a positive role model as I possibly could for generations of children who have felt the harm of the system. I hope that this little bit of action today will show that we are serious in starting the conversation around what is next, because an apology is one thing, but what is next is what’s important, which is that we need to actually deliver real change in the space of keeping our children safe.

Now, thousands of survivors shared their experiences with the royal commission and have been clear that the system needs to improve its protections against abuse and neglect. The amendments that we are focusing on today with Oranga Tamariki are for secure residences operated by Oranga Tamariki, where less than 200 children and young people with the highest needs are cared for at any given time.

The royal commission recommended that the Government minimise the use of restrictive practices in care—and I agree—and there was one that I felt was inhumane and should have been gotten rid of a long time ago. So this bill will remove the authority to strip-search children and young people in secure residences, eliminating one of the most restrictive powers of care in the system.

The royal commission has also recommended that all care providers should seek the best possible understanding of the background, culture, needs, and vulnerabilities of every child and young person in their care. This bill will introduce a requirement for Oranga Tamariki to develop a tailored search plan for each child and young person in the residences. This plan will ensure that their search and gender preferences are respected, and it will reflect their unique needs and vulnerabilities. The royal commission also emphasised that care safety is of paramount importance.

For the five secure youth justice residences, I’m introducing new search provisions to reduce the risk of having harmful and unauthorised items entering residences. Care-experienced young people have said that they support these provisions and that they want their place of home to be safe. Furthermore, being and feeling safe is a precondition for the successful delivery of the therapeutic programmes that will be running in these residences. The successful delivery of these programmes will help young people who have offended find new goals, gain a different perspective, and return to their communities to be the best that they can be. The bill also makes a minor technical amendment regarding the minimum time a child or a young person can spend in secure care before court oversight is required to approve an extension.

I’ve heard from many people, especially around even having the ability for strip-searches still being there and how it’s humiliating, invasive, and harmful not only to vulnerable children’s physical health but also their mental wellbeing. I am, therefore, removing that authority to conduct these strip-searches, and this will not just minimise the risk; it will eliminate it completely.

There are situations when it is necessary to search a young person, but these searches need to be conducted with respect and should reflect the person’s unique needs and vulnerabilities. I am proposing two amendments to better respect the child or the young person being searched, and these amendments align with recommendation 78 made by the royal commission, which is about recognising the needs and vulnerabilities of every child and young person in the care system.

The first amendment will remove the requirement for pat-down searches to be undertaken by staff members of the same sex as the child. This requirement does not respect the LGBTIQA+ community, and it leaves staff relying on discretion when conducting searches. There will be safeguards around these preferences. Where there are clear risks from a preference to be searched by the person of an opposite sex, staff members may be able to overrule the preference but must put other safety mitigations in place, if possible.

The second amendment requires a search plan to be made for each child and young person in the residence that identifies their needs and preferences for how they are searched and by whom. This includes recognising the histories of trauma and other conditions that could negatively impact how that search is experienced. Our young people’s wellbeing needs to be put at the forefront.

The safety of those in care is paramount, and the royal commission has recommended that the Government is guided by care safety principles, which relate to mitigating risks in physical environments. Currently, the entry of harmful and unauthorised items is a risk to the safety of young people and staff in the secure youth justice residences. In the six months to February 2024, 390 unauthorised items were found in one secure youth justice residence alone. Fourteen items were shanks and 21 were rocks that could immediately be used as a weapon, and 160 of these unauthorised items were either vapes or illicit drugs and related items, which must have come from outside of the residence. I have been informed that staff and visitors can be the source of these items.

Care-experienced young people have shared their concerns about the current environment in residences and the ability to keep young people safe. To reduce the risk of harmful and unauthorised items entering secure youth residences, the bill will enable searches of everyone entering the residence, including young people, visitors, staff, and contractors. This will allow for the use of imaging technology scanners, and the bill will more clearly define the list of harmful and unauthorised items. In general, VOYCE - Whakarongo Mai, an advocacy group for care-experienced young people, supports the extension of search powers and says that priority needs to be given to ensuring that adequate technology, such as body-imaging scanners, is available and is used to minimise the use of hands-on searches.

The Oranga Tamariki Youth Advisory Group is also in favour of the standardised searches which were not too punitive. In the words of one advisory group member, “all searches should be required for anyone. This is health and safety for everyone.”

I acknowledge that the new search provisions may be viewed as going against the royal commission’s recommendations to minimise and, ultimately, eliminate institutional practices. Moving to models of care that avoid institutional environments would take significant time to achieve and cannot be addressed through these amendments, but I expect that the overall impact of these changes to be a reduction in the intrusive search practices. Given that the Oranga Tamariki Act already enables young people to be searched within the residence, enabling a scanner search each time they enter is a relatively small change, but one that is expected to greatly improve the safety and wellbeing of young people in the residence.

I acknowledge that most people entering a residence will not have unauthorised items in their possession and that universal searches may make people feel uncomfortable. However, we need to balance this against the severe harm that could occur if these items continue to be brought into residences. I acknowledge that some family may be put off from visiting residences due to the possibility of being searched, but the greater safety for everyone is likely to mean that some other whānau may feel safer to visit.

To support visitors and help prevent the loss of connection for young people that the royal commission highlighted, Oranga Tamariki will advise them that searches occur to detect those items, what those items are, and the consequences if they are found. Unauthorised items will be removed and returned to the individual when leaving a residence, where appropriate. This will enable visitors to make a decision about what they bring to their visits in advance, and there will also be clear safeguards in place.

There is also an amendment clarifying the maximum time a child or young person should spend in secure care. Currently, the bill has two meanings for that. One time frame is 72 hours, which begins counting when the child or young person is first placed in secure care; and the other time frame is for no more than three days. This amendment will clarify it so that a young person will not spend longer than the count of three days. This is a minor amendment that will reduce the ambiguity within the Act while the Government continues to respond to the royal commission’s recommendations.

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the time to be able to speak to this today, and I hope it shows that we are serious about moving forward and getting things done.

Hon CASEY COSTELLO (Minister of Customs): Mr Speaker, I rise on this important day to speak in support of the Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill. I would first like to acknowledge those in the gallery and those that met with us this morning on this important day of recognising our past, recognising our history, but hopefully acknowledging it does not define our future.

I would also like to acknowledge the Minister who is leading this programme of work, Minister Erica Stanford, and her commitment and her diligence and her empathy and her warmth in navigating this difficult process. We spoke earlier today in this House of love, and I can assure you that this programme of work is being delivered with love. The recognition of the individual stories and the recognition of the harm has created a pathway for us to deliver a future.

It is important for us to consider, at this time, that this process and the environment that we stand in everyday will be foreign to many in this House who are viewing it. It seems a cold process, it seems a very sterile process, and I hope that you can recognise that it’s this process that will ensure that our decisions are made diligently, that our decisions are made with careful consideration, that there are no unintended consequences, that we know that you are heard, and that our responses lead us down a pathway to a better future.

The report provided 138 recommendations and 500 findings. Each of those recommendations and each of those findings were reflective of a story told to the commission. Each of you, as a survivor, has a story that needs to be heard, and it is important that we note that and we allow each story to be told and we don’t make decisions on a collective basis based upon the loudest voice or the most vocal spokesperson, but those that have still remained too scared to speak will be assured that their voice will be heard as we work through this process.

Minister Stanford said in her opening address that this is the beginning of our response, and it truly is. It is the beginning of a pathway, and what we wanted to do in this House was recognise those important key considerations that could show that we are taking action. We are moving forward, but it is not our destination. We have so much work that we want to reflect, and as we talk about the nation we are and we talk about the processes and how this House comes to its decisions, I think it’s important to recognise that, across this House, there are really considered, important, and balanced conversations that go to informing the programme of work.

We are coming at this with love. We are coming at this recognising that we have a history that we hang our heads in shame about. But we cannot, in this, ignore those that were carers that did deliver love, that did offer a pathway out of hell, and we should consider those people that did provide that support and that nourishment and that whānau that was so desperately needed. I want to also recognise those survivors who, in the conversations that I’ve had the privilege to be part of, have come forward with immense strength, that are now delivering solutions, and that are supporting communities. A young woman that I sat with at breakfast yesterday is opening yet another care home to deliver those interventions. That is our pathway forward. It is not just from the Government; it is: how do we harness the strength that you have demonstrated, and how do we ensure that we provide the pathway to build on that strength?

This piece of legislation is small in process and small in size but massive in terms of what it represents. It represents that we are listening, we are trying to take the actions that will have impact, and we are trying to find the pathway forward in a balanced and process-driven way so that we don’t miss anything.

We have a history where I think we have acted at pace. We have implemented things where, perhaps, we didn’t think about the unintended consequences. We didn’t consider the communities. We stood in this House thinking we knew better. I think that is the lesson that we learn by presenting this bill today: to take the small steps to ensure we continue to keep moving forward; and to protect our young people that are going into youth justice secure facilities, protecting all the young people—those that are weaker and gentler—from those that are stronger and more aggressive. We must ensure that we don’t allow contraband and weapons to enter those facilities, that we make some clarity around authority and responsibility, and that we empower those that have the ability to do the right thing and protect them.

We want to ensure that anyone who works with the care of young people is clearly, strongly, and verifiably vetted so that we know they are safe to be in the positions they’re in, that we recognise what vulnerability really means, and that we ensure, as we move forward, that that vulnerability is clearly defined so there can be no ambiguity in the future.

Finally, what is most important, as a former detective, is knowing that the records will be clear, that they will be accessible, and that we make that process verified, because knowing that your story is written down and that you have access to it is critically important. That’s what makes you no longer invisible. That’s what protects your story and your truth. Those are the things that we know we can fix today.

I want to really close by talking again about our past and our history. We are a complex nation, but we are a unique nation. We have formed a nation based upon a history where a range of peoples have come together. I whakapapa to both Ngātiwai, Ngāpuhi, and Ngāti Hau, but I also whakapapa to Ireland and to England. I want to ensure that that story we tell, as we go forward, does not create further division amongst our families but brings us together, just as has been said in this House today, with love, with respect, and with the empowerment that comes from knowing that our stories are heard and respected so that we will learn from what we’ve done wrong and we will look forward to the future.

I commend this bill to the House, and I acknowledge Minister Stanford for her diligent work in this programme of work. Thank you.

MARIAMENO KAPA-KINGI (Te Pāti Māori—Te Tai Tokerau): Tēnā koe e te Pīka. Tēnā tātou katoa e te Whare. E pono ana, me mihi ki ngā mōrehu kua tae mai ki tēnei Whare, haere mai, haere mai. Me mihi ki te mamae e ngau tonu ana i tō manawa, i tō tinana, i tō wairua. Tēnā koutou katoa.

[Thank you, Mr Speaker. Greetings to all of us in the House. It is true, the survivors who have come here to this House should be acknowledged: welcome—welcome. The pain that continues to assail your heart, your body, your spirit must also be acknowledged. Greetings to you all.]

Me mihi ki te katoa e kore e tae mai kei tērā pito, kei tērā pito o te motu [All should be acknowledged who did not come, in each part of the country]—because they’re likely to be on the march—tēnā tātou.

Me mihi ki ngā whānau kua riro ki te pō, haere atu rā, haere atu rā, haere atu rā. Tēnā tātou katoa.

[We should acknowledge the family members who have been lost to the darkness, rest in peace.]

Several brave survivors took to the lectern this morning in the Banquet Hall. They took to their feet to express their pain and their deep resentment for the harm they endured when they were meant to be loved and protected by us. Several others who were seated, by the way, were even more vocal. They were vocal because what they were hearing from officials and from Government wasn’t resonating with them—it’s safe to say they didn’t believe it.

The fact that we might be sorry today—and I get that this is a day of apology—doesn’t mean that you have to be ready to forgive us. That is your choice and your time. Just because we’re sorry—kei a koutou te tikanga [it is up to you].

It would be too easy, actually, to dismiss some of the vocal disruption—and reasonable disruption, actually—in the Banquet Hall this morning, because what they were hoping for and expecting was connection, truth, and honesty. Speeches don’t do that; people that speak their truth do that. So when that is occurring, survivors can tell—is that true? Should I believe you? Are you genuine in what you say?

I think those points are really relevant to this discussion today and for the next two readings, because, in fact, this is the first reading. We support it—and “support” being a relative term—in this very first reading, because we acknowledge that today is a special and particular day. But certainly going forward, I think there’ll be more to hear and to debate and to understand.

Knowing this work, as I do and as I have in my whole working life, you’ve got to know it enough to understand what you’re thinking about, what people have endured, and what they still endure today. If you don’t get it, you just can’t write about it. You can’t describe it in any piece of writing, let alone some legal speak. You just don’t get it. So, therefore, these are the things that I think deserve some real understanding from the whole House, to demand that the whole House understand it in a deeper way. Sorry just simply isn’t enough, in my view.

The bill, as it looks thus far, disappointingly starts off with the three or four bullet points with strip searches and restraining methods. I agree; what a low bar to start with. The irony is that stopping people from bringing contraband into a whare, none of that was so—in all of these stories, the contraband was in the minds and the hearts of the people that were meant to love them, not something that they brought into a whare. It was something that they already had in their minds to treat and mistreat and disregard. The reason as well that I want to speak to this point is that there are other bills that have been pushed through that are equally as harmful—point: removing section 7AA. To not make that point would be me pretending that it doesn’t matter, in this conversation, for fear of being accused of politicising. I come from a tribe that does exactly this, so it is my point to do that, and it is my party’s expectation that I would make such statements. [Bell rung] And there it is.

Nō reira tātou mā, aroha nui ki a tātou.

[And so everyone, much love to us all.]

We do not commend it, but we will participate. Kia ora tātou.

KAHURANGI CARTER (Green): Tēnā koe e te Māngai. Tēnā koutou e te Whare. Tēnā koutou ki te whānau. I want to acknowledge the resilience, the strength, and the profound healing that is happening in this room and in rooms all across the motu today. The courage of those who are here and those who could not be, those who have passed, those who never came forward, and those still suffering at the hands of the State is immeasurable. No words can ever fully capture the depth of the systemic failures and the enduring injustices inflicted by the State.

Today, when I met with survivors, I heard time and time again that an apology without action and accountability is empty and hollow. Today must be more than words alone, and this bill is just a start of the journey ahead to systemic change. Kāore mā te waha engari mā te ringa. [Actions speak louder than words.]

Today, I wear a kākahu made by my mother, with love and intention, each strand woven together to create a cloak which protects and holds me. Whanaketia must be seen as a living document, a taonga woven like kākahu, guiding and shaping the future of our care system.

Thousands of survivors have selflessly made sacrifices, reliving their trauma in the hope of achieving a better future for our mokopuna.

Reading survivor stories, I was struck by the disturbing patterns that emerged. We have failed you, and our Government continues to fail you. On behalf of the Green Party, I am deeply sorry. The time to act on your stories is now.

This bill is the Government’s initial steps, the first strands to be woven in recommendations, and we’re committed to working across the House to further this. One of the first strands included in this bill is the Crimes Act, which changes, and adds disability to, the “vulnerable adult” definition, actioning recommendation 26—finally. Amendments to the Children’s Act that tighten restrictions on the children’s workers, responding to recommendation 58, are about keeping our kids safe. Changes to the Public Records Act improve data collection and record-keeping, addressing recommendations 81 to 84. What is recorded matters and belongs to you. The Oranga Tamariki Act changes aim to make secure-care residents safer, addressing recommendations 70 to 75. However, we remain deeply concerned that the provisions increasing search powers, allowing force, and retaining seclusion don’t go far enough in actioning these recommendations. We are committed to supporting this bill to select committee so that we can critically evaluate the shortcomings.

This omnibus bill, amending multiple sections at once, highlights only a fraction of the deeper, interconnected nature of abuse at the hands of the State. While this bill is a step forward, it does not go far enough—far from it.

The recommendations before us must be understood as mutually reinforcing strands, woven together like kākahu, intended to right the wrongs of the past and protect against future abuse and neglect in care. But this kākahu must be whole; each thread, each recommendation, is vital—leaving out any part weakens the structure. One loose strand can unravel all the protection our cloak creates. We know too well that the harm done in care does not end with one individual; it ripples out, impacting whānau and spanning across generations.

In the words of Sir Robert Martin: “My hope is that there is an end to segregation, institutionalisation and discrimination, and that all the children of tomorrow grow up in caring, well-supported families, and that schools, communities, and societies shift to be inclusive of all people.”

Hon LOUISE UPSTON (Minister for Social Development and Employment): Mr Speaker, it is an honour but not a pleasure to stand in the House today in support of the Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill. I want to start by acknowledging the survivors that have joined us here in Parliament but also those that have joined this occasion in other parts of the country where they have gathered together to hear the Crown apology.

I want to thank the Prime Minister, and I want to thank the Leader of the Opposition, for the apology that has been made today, and I want to particularly acknowledge the disproportionate number of Deaf and disabled New Zealanders who were abused in care. Like many, I have read the royal commission’s final report. Every page was harrowing to read, and one can only imagine what those experiences were like to live. It’s very clear that the State has a responsibility to protect the most vulnerable, and it’s clear that we’ve failed in that duty, which is why we, as members of Parliament, have a responsibility to take action, and the speakers in the Banquet Hall made that very clear. Words are one thing; action is something else.

I want to particularly speak today in support of the proposed amendment to the Crimes Act which explicitly includes “disability” in the definition of a “vulnerable adult”. The royal commission pointed out the lack of clarity and protection in legislation for disabled people. The proposed amendment makes explicitly clear the protection the law offers to disabled people who rely on the care of another person who cannot remove themselves from that care. I do understand that the disability community raised concerns with the royal commission about being defined as “vulnerable” because that word very clearly does not speak to their strengths, but I do want to make it clear that this change is not about defining disabled people as vulnerable; it’s about protecting people who may not be able to speak for themselves, who are experiencing abuse and neglect, and who cannot remove themselves from that care. The amendment, I want to point out, does not change the obligations on carers, household members, or staff in care settings, but makes it explicit that they are subject to the obligations and offences in the Crimes Act. This change will make it abundantly clear that those caring for disabled adults have a statutory duty towards them and can also be subject to specific offences for ill-treating them.

There is never ever an excuse for the abuse or mistreatment of disabled people. We recognise that we must do, and need to do, more, and we are working to strengthen the system that protects disabled people from abuse and neglect. I want to give one example: People for Us, which is a peer-to-peer initiative that responds to the recommendation that people in care have access to independent advocates. This is a new approach to safeguarding disabled adults who live in residential services. It will be delivered by experienced providers and staffed by disabled people. Its initial focus will be working with people at higher risk of abuse or neglect—for example, those without family and without whānau and friends outside the service who could support them. These services are currently being established, and I understand they’ll be in place in the middle of next year.

Our Government is committed to making the care system safe for all who need it. It will take time to make the scale of changes the royal commission has recommended, but, today, we are making a start. We are making a start with the support of the other parties around the House. So, with that, in this, words will be followed by action. I commend this bill to the House.

Hon TAMA POTAKA (Minister for Māori Crown Relations: Te Arawhiti): Ka mura tau ihi, ka mura taku wehi, ka mura taku wana. Kei ngā mōrehu o te pō, haere atu ra. E ngā mōrehu o te rā, hoki ora mai.

[My internal energy is aflame, my awe is aflame, my power is aflame. To the survivors of the night, rest in peace. To the survivors of the daylight, welcome back.]

First and foremost, I deeply acknowledge the courage and persistence of the survivors—the mōrehu. I have been humbled to read, feel, and hear the stories of horror, terror, tragedy, and the near extinguishment of hope and aroha. I will remember these stories. The mamae associated with this kaupapa is tangible, and we can feel it. Tukua mai he kapunga oneone ki ahau hei tangi māku—send me a handful of soil so that I may weep over it.

Today, we have heard our Prime Minister issue a public apology, supported by the Rt Hon Chris Hipkins. E mihi ana ki a rāua tahi. [I acknowledge them both.]

It is a significant milestone, signalling the Kāwanatanga commitment to address the issues that failed survivors, their whānau, and their communities.

I am one of several Ministers who has been on the ministerial group for the Crown response to the abuse in care inquiry, supporting Minister Stanford. As the Minister for Māori Development and Whānau Ora, I am acutely conscious of the disproportionate numbers of Māori who have been and continue to be in the care of the State. This has represented yet another severely detrimental impact on the potential for strong whānau and strong communities, along with the equality of opportunity that Māori in this country need today and in the future to thrive.

We’ve heard about Māori overrepresentation in care settings, reaching up to 80 percent in some very dark and dank institutions. As a young man growing up in Rangitīkei, Lake Alice was not a place of hope, was not a place of aroha, and other institutions like Epuni, Kohitere, Kingseat, Tokanui, and others were in our memory. State care environments exposed tamariki Māori and all tamariki to neglect, physical, sexual, and emotional prejudice, and abuse. In many instances, there was no care, and it’s very hard—and I struggle to say “State care”; “State-run” institutions is how I might describe it.

Tamariki and rangatahi Māori often lost access to aspects of our marae, whānau, culture, histories, herstories, and tikanga and kawa that would otherwise have helped them with whakamarumaru, whakahaumaru, and protections. Further mahi will now be undertaken across the Public Service to address the royal commission’s findings, as set out in Whanaketia—mahi that seeks to address and redress the wrongs of the past, to ensure the safety of the current system and empower whānau, communities, and, I hope, hapū and iwi to make our own decisions, their own decisions, relating to hauora and wellbeing of the mōrehu and their whānau.

To demonstrate the Kāwanatanga commitment to change, we are introducing this bill, the Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill, which will include a range of measures to better protect people, especially tamariki, rangatahi, and tauiwi in State care today and into the future. Moving forward together, we must reciprocate the trust that has been vested and placed in us by survivors when they carefully shared their wheako, or their experiences; their stories, their kōrero. Every child, rangatahi—Māori, Pākehā, Pasifika, and actually all New Zealand tamariki and children—needs and deserves to be raised in a safe, loving home, one filled with aroha, one filled with manaakitanga, and one with filled with that notion of kaitiakitanga.

To the kura mōrehu here today and others who are watching on screens and throughout the country: E mihi ana ki a koutou. Nō koutou te rā. Mō wai? Mō rātou ngā kura mōrehu kua ngaro ki te pō. Mō wai? Mō ngā mokopuna me ngā tamariki kei te heke mai.

Mai i te pō ki te ao mārama.

Me tū kaha, me tū māia, me tū manawanui koutou, tātou katoa i ēnei āhuatanga. Me te mō’io hoki nō te ngākau iti rawa, nō te rourou iti a noho ki a koutou e te rourou nui kei te tae mai ki te whakanui i tēnei rā, engari ki te kawe mai i ngā roimata, ngā hūpē me ngā mamae o tuatinitini, o tuamanomano.

Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā tātou katoa.

[I greet you all. The days are yours. Who is it for? For those the eminent survivors who have been lost to the darkness. Who is it for? For the grandchildren and children that are yet to come.

From the darkness to the world of light.

You must stand strong, stay courageous, and have heart, indeed we all must with respect to these circumstances. And in the awareness that it comes from a very humble heart, from the smaller assembly that reside here to you, the greater convocation that are arriving here to celebrate this day, but also to convey the tears, the sadness, and anguish of the many, of the multitudes.

Greetings and thanks to you, indeed to us all.]

Hon WILLOW-JEAN PRIME (Labour): Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. He kura mōrehu kei konei i te rā nei ki roto i te Whare Pāremata, e mātakitaki mai nā mai i ō koutou kāinga puta noa i Aotearoa, tēnā koutou katoa. Nō koutou tēnei rā. E tino rongo atu ana mātou ki ō koutou tangi, i ō koutou mamae.

E tautoko ana ahau, pau te kaha, i te whakapāhatanga a te Karauna i tēnei rā, me te kōrero tautoko a Chris Hipkins i tēnei rā.

E kore e taea te hoki ki te whakatika i ngā hē kua oti, engari ka taea e mātou, e tātou te whakatika ngā mahi o nāianei kia kaua rawa anō ēnei ngārara e ngau kino anō i tētahi ā haere ake nei.

[Thank you, Mr Speaker. The eminent survivors that are here this day in the House of Parliament and that are watching from your homes all across Aotearoa, greetings to you all. Today belongs to you. We truly hear your sorrow and your pain.

I support, to the limits of my strength, the apology of the Crown today and the speech Chris Hipkins gave in support today.

We will never be able to go back and correct the wrongs that have been committed, but we, all of us, can correct the actions of today so that this horror may never again assault anyone else from now on.]

I would like to begin by acknowledging the events of this morning, the Prime Minister’s apology on behalf of the Crown, and I also tautoko what Chris Hipkins said. In particular, I want to start where he ended, referring to he māra tipu—or a garden of growth—a country where all our people can flourish, be loved and cared for in their communities, and be enabled to share their unique talents and contribute to society in ways which are meaningful to them. This is the vision of what we all want as a country. The royal commission shows us we have much work to do to achieve this, and this work must start now.

To quote Chris Hipkins, he said, “[I acknowledge that] we have enormous work to do. The inquiry and this apology must be a starting point, a point from which to embark on a pathway for us to not only right these historic wrongs but also to fundamentally change our care system, change … so that State care is rarely necessary … But when [it is, it is] a safe and warm space for all, as it should … have been [from the start].” He said that this is a challenge that will take time, but know that Labour is committed to it.

With that, I welcome the omnibus bill. It provides just a few steps to start the journey towards addressing the harm caused and preventing it from happening in the future. The royal commission details multiple institutional factors that contributed to neglect and abuse in care, including inadequate, inconsistent, and inaccessible standards, including a lack of commitment to human rights and to Te Tiriti o Waitangi and of care, which were routinely breached with little consequence or accountability.

People who worked with children, young people, and vulnerable adults were not properly vetted, trained, or supervised. There were poor employment policies and poor senior leadership and management practices, including instances where abusers with criminal convictions for sexual abuse were knowingly employed. Children, young people, and vulnerable adults were often treated as things, not people with legitimate rights, voices, and needs. There is a quote in Whanaketia where a survivor said she felt like she was treated like a thing, not a person. They were rarely asked what they thought or wanted or needed, and even if they were, what they expressed was routinely ignored.

Throughout Whanaketia, the royal commission documented significant violations of people’s privacy and rights, including inappropriate and unnecessary use of searches and the inappropriate behaviour by staff during searches. Seclusion, solitary confinement, and secure care were not a last resort to keep people safe but were wielded as a weapon to punish, humiliate, and control. So the changes in these Acts will help to make children, young people, and vulnerable adults safer, and respond to what the royal commission found contributed to abuse, neglect, and trauma in care. While welcomed, I do wish to note that these amendments are very small steps. Ultimately, we need to fundamentally change our care system.

We need to build communities where all people are cared for regardless of their needs, and when families need a little extra support, they get it in their community. We know that when you connect a child with their community and build them up, you can truly turn their life around. But, too often, as we heard from the royal commission, children, young people, and vulnerable adults were taken away from their families and put in State and faith-based care just because they needed a little extra support—a house, some support to put food on the table, a different learning environment. There were so many reasons that could have been solved with the whānau in a community. Instead, the State thought it best to rip families apart and damage people for life. We still do that today, and it needs to stop. This will take time, but we begin now to fundamentally change our attitudes and our system of care.

While I listen to the public discussion about young people who commit crimes or people who are struggling to put food on the table, I can hear reflections of what I read in Whanaketia—our wider attitudes about who is deserving of help and who isn’t, who has basic human rights and who doesn’t. As the royal commission points out, these are the conditions that allow us to “other” some people and treat them differently, as something other than human. This is what allowed the abuse and neglect in care to occur. If we want to change this, we have to change the way we view people who are struggling in our society. We must be clear about the fact that abuse and neglect in care was not something that happened a long time ago, a past that we can put behind us, apologise for, then forget, and move on. It is still happening now. Last year, over 500 children were hurt in care, many of them more than once. This is simply not good enough. We have to fundamentally change the system from here on in.

We must build communities of care so that people who need extra or different support can get this in the community. The need for State care should be rare, but when it is needed, we must create a system that we can all trust will actually care, protect, nurture, and love. As I said, this will take time, but we must start now, and there are many things we must do to improve the wellbeing and safety of children and young people in the youth justice system. This omnibus bill contributes to it. As we have heard explained by several speakers prior to me, there are amendments to the Oranga Tamariki Act 1989, the Children’s Act 2014, the Crimes Act 1961, and the Public Records Act 2005.

The searching or body scanning in youth justice facilities—at first this provision did not seem to sit comfortably with the royal commission’s recommendations for deinstitutionalisation and the reduction of powers of the State over children and young people in care. But we understand that young people interviewed from VOYCE - Whakarongo Mai would welcome this amendment, and so, as a member of the Social Services and Community Committee, I welcome submissions on this proposal. We’ve heard about those bringing in contraband and why those young people thought this is something that we should consider. The removal of strip-searching—removing the ability to conduct strip-searches on children and young people—is a powerful and positive step. The removal of strip-searches is entirely consistent with the direction of the royal commission’s recommendations.

In terms of secure care, there is a lot in the royal commission’s report—particularly recommendation 74 that “The government should prioritise and accelerate work to minimise and eliminate solitary confinement in all care settings as soon as practicable, with an emphasis on person-centred and culturally appropriate approaches to reduce the use of solitary confinement.” There are also the recommendations around vetting, which speak to recommendations 58, 63, 64, 76, 89 to 92, and 98, and—in faith-based entities—recommendation 138. I look forward to hearing from the Government what the next steps are in terms of the work regarding those recommendations.

I welcome this bill being forwarded to the Social Services and Community Committee, of which I am a member. I look forward to the submissions from the public so that we can work through what is being proposed in the first response to the royal commission’s inquiry into abuse in State care.

JOSEPH MOONEY (National—Southland): Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I rise on what is a momentous day in the history of our nation and a recognition and acknowledgement of the enormous harm that has been visited on so many people over so many years. Now, although we cannot fix everything immediately, I have heard from some around our communities and, in fact, around the world, that the words spoken by the Prime Minister—“you are heard and you are believed”—are enormously powerful. You are heard, and you are believed. That is the first step: acknowledging and apologising for the abuse.

It is unbelievable that up to 250,000 children, young people, and vulnerable adults were abused in State and faith-based care between 1950 and 2019—unbelievable but true. And, today, we’re acknowledging that. Why that is important is because the harm it has created will have reverberated through those lives, will have affected everything for those people, but, not only that, reverberated through the foundations of our very nation, because a nation should be measured by the way that it treats its most vulnerable, and our nation failed on that score.

Now is our opportunity to acknowledge that failure and to make that right and to ensure for the future that all vulnerable people—all children, all young people, all vulnerable adults—will be loved and will be cared for in the way that they should be, in the way that a great nation will care for those people. This is an opportunity for our nation.

I would thank those who have spoken for those who cannot, those who have had the courage and the resilience and the temerity to fight for this, and those who have helped them speak, those who have helped them navigate the enormously complex processes of our legal system and of our political system to get us to this point today so that all of those who cannot be heard have been recognised, and to give our nation that opportunity to make this right.

I have worked across this country, in courtrooms and in prisons, as a lawyer, seeing many damaged individuals across our nation. I have worked also as a mental health advocate. I’ve worked helping young people, as a youth advocate. I’ve reflected for many years on why we have so much trauma in our nation, why we have such high rates of family abuse—one of the highest rates in the OECD—the highest rates of abuse of our children, and one of the highest rates of youth suicide. I think we have an opportunity, now, as a nation, to come together and to work incredibly hard—and it will be challenging—to address those deep structural issues that we have throughout our nation to ensure that does not happen to those in the future. That is an enormous opportunity, and I thank those who have made that possible.

If I reflect on the fact that this is the last major land mass in the world that has been settled by humanity, I think that is an opportunity for us to reflect on that and reflect that what we do here can reverberate around not only our nation but around the world. I say that because I have heard from others in other parts of the globe who have heard this: “you are heard and you are believed”. And that is a powerful thing.

The bill that we have before us today will be coming before the Social Services and Community Committee, of which I am the chair, and I look forward to hearing from those who will submit on that; I look forward to hearing the reflections that they will share with us. I note this is but the first step of many steps to come, but it is an important step. I look forward to a future that we can all work towards, to making sure that we can give the love and give the care that is needed for the most vulnerable people in our nation so that we can be the great nation that we are capable of being. With that, I commend this bill to the House.

CATHERINE WEDD (National—Tukituki): It’s a privilege to rise in support of the Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill. It is our job as politicians to give those who have no voice a voice, and this bill will go some way to legally protecting our most vulnerable.

I want to firstly acknowledge the bravery of thousands of survivors—many of you here today. This is an emotional moment in New Zealand’s history. Nothing we can do or say will ever make up for what you have endured. The State was supposed to care for you, but, instead, the most horrendous physical, emotional, mental, and sexual abuse occurred. Māori, Pacific, Deaf, and disabled people disproportionately were victims of this horrific abuse. The State is now standing beside you and taking action.

To demonstrate our commitment to change and taking action to protect our most vulnerable, the Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill will include a range of measures to better protect people in State care today and into the future. The Government will continue to consider the royal commission’s recommendations carefully and respectfully.

I’d like to focus on the change in this bill which will protect those with a disability. Disabled people endured some of the most horrific abuse. The royal commission considered the absence of “disability” in the Crimes Act definition of “vulnerable adults” to be a significant gap. It proposed that “disability” be explicitly included in the definition. This omnibus bill clarifies the definition of a “vulnerable adult” in the Crimes Act to include disabled people. Including “disability” in the definition of “vulnerable adult” will make it explicit that those caring for disabled adults owe them a statutory duty of care. Making this amendment to the Crimes Act will remove any potential perception that disabled people in care arrangements do not explicitly have protection under the Act. It will address recommendation 26 of the royal commission to specifically include “disability” within the definition. Those who cannot speak for themselves need this kind of statutory protection.

I speak today from personal experience. My older brother is intellectually disabled and has never been able to talk. He’s unable to stand up for himself. All my life, I’ve been protective of him and stood up for him—standing up for him when he was teased at school, standing up for him when he was mistreated. But, as family members, we can’t always be there to stand up for them, so we put trust in others. And that trust should be respected and upheld. But that was not always the case for our family. And the hardest thing when that trust has been breached is that they can’t tell you, they can’t speak up for themselves, so wrongs are silenced.

Through my brother’s life, he’s had many carers, and one carer in particular was with him for over a decade. She was the most incredible woman, for whom our family will be forever grateful. She showed so much love and compassion and treated our brother like her own. When we put our most vulnerable into care, we expect this, and we expect they will be cared for with some love and with aroha. As mothers, we have that natural instinct to protect our babies.

I would like to acknowledge a survivor whose story touched my heart and whose advocacy for disabled people across Aotearoa has been significantly recognised, and he has already been mentioned today: Sir Robert Martin, who was a survivor with a disability. He passed away earlier this year. He endured horrific State abuse at the Kimberley Centre, and in his story, he said, “I’m a person first, disability second.” He shared a heartbreaking truth: “When you are shut away from the world, you’re not treated as a real person with a life that actually matters.” He said, “I don’t want disabled children to have the same childhood I did.” “Out of sight, out of mind” is no longer acceptable.

As a Government, we can’t control human nature, we can’t fully control human behaviour, but we can control the protections and rights of our most vulnerable and ensure those who offend are legally accountable. As a politician, I stand up for survivors, like Sir Robert Martin and his family and our disabled community; as a sister, I stand up for my disabled brother; and for those who don’t have a voice, we need to give you a voice and the protection you deserve. I commend this bill to the House.

Rt Hon ADRIAN RURAWHE (Labour): Tēnā koe e te Māngai o te Whare. Otirā ki a koutou ngā mōrehu puta noa i Aotearoa, tae atu ki te Whare nei, tēnei te mihi ake ki a koutou, tēnā koutou.

[Thank you, Mr Speaker. Indeed to all of you, the survivors, all across Aotearoa, including those in this House, I greet all of you, greetings.]

Yesterday morning, I attended the blessing and opening of an art exhibition of artwork by survivors of abuse in care. One of the pieces struck me when I saw it. It had two words on it: “Ngāti whāngai”. It was a beautiful piece. Whāngai is a kaupapa Māori. It’s a kaupapa that’s been practised in my family, my whānau, for many generations—practised successfully.

The artwork both troubled me and challenged me, and I’ve been thinking about it a lot since I saw it. “Whāngai” to me means nurturing children that are not able, for whatever reason, to be able to be raised by their birth parents. It told me that the artist had expectations about their care that were not met. It told me that, as a State, we haven’t met those expectations that we should have. It told me that there is value in kaupapa Māori. It told me that kaupapa Māori such as whāngai should be respected because those who it impacts on would be better off under that kind of kaupapa, because there have been generations of practise to prove that. But, too often, such kaupapa have been characterised as being race-based systems by this very House.

I think it’s time for us to stop trying to maintain a way forward under a system that clearly does not work. Tinkering around the edges will not work. It will not work for Māori, it will not work for Pasifika, and it will not work for Pākehā.

What we have seen through this report and what we see in this bill is not even Kiwi, and that’s something that we all should apologise for. But I say to this House, as I said before, that there is value in kaupapa Māori and it needs to be empowered to give it a shot, to give it a go, and to let it work, and it’s actually not difficult. That is my main message to this House.

I’m not going to speak for very long. It’s not my voice that needs to be heard in this Whare; it is others’, and to the kura mōrehu, I say to you: kia kaha. Kia ora.

KATIE NIMON (National—Napier): I want to start by acknowledging the survivors—those who’ve been here with us today and those who couldn’t be. I thank you for your bravery in this process. I know that this legislation wouldn’t be making the changes it is without your courage to share your experiences. And, of course, through the select committee process, that can and will continue. I’m here to speak in support of the Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill.

This omnibus bill represents a key step forward to ensuring the safety, dignity, and wellbeing of children, young people, and vulnerable adults in our care system. Through this legislation, we are acting on the recommendations of the royal commission of inquiry into historical abuse in State and faith-based care institutions. This bill is not just focusing on one area of change, nor did the inquiry. As we have heard, there were 138 recommendations, 28 of which have either been completed or started already. There are four Acts that need amending to implement changes in step with our initial response. An omnibus bill allows us to introduce simultaneous changes across several key pieces of legislation—in this case: Oranga Tamariki Act 1989, the Children’s Act 2014, the Crimes Act 1961, and the Public Records Act 2005. Each of these amendments aims to strengthen protections, enhance accountability, and clarify the processes involved in providing care. And legislative changes being combined into an omnibus bill will allow us to truly drive positive change in the care system at pace.

Here is a breakdown of changes across the four different Acts: as we’ve heard, the amendments to the Oranga Tamariki Act, in particular the way that searches are done to keep those staying in care residences and youth justice facilities safe; the amendments to the Children’s Act, expanding workforce restrictions, especially those that have had offences abroad or crimes under the Prostitution Reform Act involving minors. I wish to acknowledge my experience in my former jobs with the Vulnerable Children Act, acknowledging that this only seeks to find those that have been convicted, and that there are many that offend that haven’t yet been convicted. That is a challenge that we still will face in the future. The bill, obviously, also amends the Crimes Act, defining “vulnerable adult”, and, as well, finally, amends the Public Records Act to enhance the ability of Archives New Zealand to audit agencies more frequently and to ensure that that nothing is being brushed under the carpet, which is a very important factor.

If we introduced these changes as four different amendment bills, it would slow the pace of change, it would draw out the process of public consultation, and it would add further trauma to those sharing their experiences to help us ensure that this is the best possible legislation, because the process we go through when we go through select committee is to hear from people to make sure that what we are proposing is right and that people’s voices are heard. To do this as an omnibus bill helps us combine things through a common thread to ensure the safety and protection of vulnerable children in State care. Instead of the Social Services and Community Committee, the Governance and Administration Committee and the Justice Committee are going through these processes in parallel. We can combine these changes and make sure that we are looking at these as a response to the inquiry legislation amendment.

While I’ve talked about the importance of this being an omnibus bill, it’s important for me to mention that it’s more than just a collection of technical changes; it’s a shift towards a more compassionate and vigilant care system. By making these amendments, we send a clear message that abuse and neglect in any form have no place in our care systems. These protections need to reinforce public trust in our care institutions. Fundamentally, that is what has been broken.

The Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill is an essential step in reforming our care systems and rectifying past failures, but this is not the only thing that we must do. This is just the beginning. I just want to acknowledge, earlier, the creation of a memorial or a remembrance day next year on 12 November. It will be a moment for us to keep reflecting that we have made progress and will continue to make progress—the progress that the people that have gone through this as survivors expect. I look forward to us marking progress. We’ve talked about 28 of these things; I look forward to achieving more and more as we go on. With that, I commend this bill to the House.

GLEN BENNETT (Labour): “It takes a village to raise a child.” That’s the proverb that we know and that we love. But this village has failed that child, this village has let that child down, this village has hurt and traumatised that child, and this village should be ashamed of itself. This village needs to right the wrongs, to say sorry, to do everything that it can to seek forgiveness, to create strong protections and laws, and to protect that child.

It takes a village to raise a child, but that child—the survivors, those who have been in State and faith-based care have fought and have shouted for far too long for today to come. It takes a village to raise a child, and that child—those survivors need to be acknowledged and need to be believed. But what they’ve done in the process of fighting for their voices is that they have flipped this proverb on its head. It takes a child to remind us of our responsibility to the village. As you’ve shouted and as you’ve fought and as you were ignored, you reminded us today, and in the past recent years with the royal commission, what our responsibility is to the village. It takes a child to remind us of our responsibility to the village.

Who am I? What am I doing here today, standing, and speaking to this bill? I’m a white, cisgender, middle-aged male, but I’m also a Christian who grew up in the church, in the Salvation Army. I’m also a caregiver who has spent more than 20 years working alongside the State system, caring for our most vulnerable in my home. I’m also gay and a member of our rainbow whānau. I personally have memories of prejudice, and memories of treatment that society put upon me but also that the church did. We should be ashamed of ourselves. My story is not your story, but I want to stand up and be part of being a voice for our future.

As I look at our rainbow whānau, at our takatāpui community, at our LGBTIQ+ whānau, the hurt and the harm that was inflicted on our community in State and faith-based care is appalling because of the intolerance of society, because of heteronormative cultures, and because of misplaced beliefs in scriptures that were written 3,000 years ago in different cultures in time. All of these factors are not your fault. You are beautiful, and you are wonderfully made. It’s the system that is ugly. It is bad religious dogma that is rotten to the core. When the State and faith-based organisations got away with the horrors that they did, we need to step up as a village and take responsibility.

If you look in the borstals, in the foster homes, in the institutions, in the faith-based care homes, and in the psychiatric wards, they caused more trauma and abuse than you needed from the start. The experiments to cure you, the experiments to fix you, were something that you never asked for, something that was unnecessary and that didn’t need to be fixed. As for the church organisations, they should have known better if they’d read the book that their faith was founded on.

Can I just say to our rainbow survivors with us today: you are perfect, you are beautiful, and you are fabulous.

I’m also a caregiver and, for more than 20 years, have been taking young people into my home who the State was responsible to care for. One of these young people came into my care at age 11. He had seen things that no 11-year-old ever should have seen. Through no fault of his own, the whānau he was born into were unable to care for him, and so the State stepped in and took him on, and that began a course of abuse, of neglect, and of shaming, and it is shameful. When he came to stay with me at age 11, he had lived a full life that no one ever should have had to live, and, as has been spoken about earlier, that was a pathway for him to go to prison. In many ways, it was destined because of the way the State had treated him, the way the State had treated his family, and what the State had allowed to happen to him. We should be ashamed of ourselves.

Then there was a 14-year-old who came to live with me, who had many an issue and an alcoholic father. Trauma had gone on long before he came into my care. One day, I picked up his dad and was dropping him home from the supermarket. He wasn’t a chatty person—he never really engaged—but, on this day, we got talking, and he told me about the fact that when he was a child, he was sent to Oamaru, to a borstal down there, from Rotorua. He was completely severed and disconnected from his family, from his whānau, and from his whakapapa and put down in Oamaru on another complete island—in fact, in another complete world. So do I blame the 14-year-old who came into my care for the misdemeanours and things he did? Do I blame his father for becoming an alcoholic? No. It’s the system and the State that we must fix.

Then there’s my mate Roger. Sadly, Roger passed away last year, but he’d been a friend who I met 30 years ago when I was working at the Salvation Army. He had polio in the 1950s as a baby, ended up with a major disfigurement, and was unable to walk properly. As a pre-teen, the State said, “You need to put him into Porirua Hospital. That is the best thing for him.” Roger spent the next 25-plus years in Porirua Hospital. Why? It was because he had a limp—because he had a limp. The treatment of him was shameful and shocking. I’m glad that, in this piece of legislation, we’re looking at including disability in this, to make sure it comes in line with the royal commission report to ensure that our disability communities are acknowledged.

This morning, we apologised; this afternoon, we continue that. But I believe this has to be a line in the sand. How do we move forward? How do we look forward together as a village? How do we turn these words into action? How do we ensure that we get this legislation right, that we pull it to pieces, that we put it back together, and that this is just a start of what is to come, to make sure that our village thrives and that our children are who they are destined to be?

I speak today on behalf of the young people I’ve looked after, in the hope that the work that we do in this House will ensure that changes are made so that they can look me in the eye and say, “Koro Glen, our babies are going to be OK—our babies are going to be OK.”

It takes a child to remind us of our responsibility to the village. We’re meant to protect our babies. We’re meant to nurture our babies. We are meant to love our babies. I challenge all sides of this House to do everything that we can to make sure that we adhere to our responsibilities and obligations to our village.

DAN BIDOIS (National—Northcote): E te Māngai o te Whare, e ngā mana, e ngā reo, e rau rangatira mā, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

[To the Speaker of the House, to the authorities, the representatives, the many eminent leaders, greetings and thanks to you all.]

“There is a lot of power in sharing a story,” said survivor Rūpene Amato. Thank you for sharing your stories with us today and through this inquiry. Whether you were here in the gallery and spoke this morning or whether you are tuning in online around the country, we all here today acknowledge that sharing your story required great courage, vulnerability, and the grit to confront the past so that the future can look brighter for you and many more, so thank you, thank you, thank you.

This is an historic and important day after a six-year long inquiry of State abuse that goes as far back as the 1950s and still continues to this very day—abuse in State care and faith-based institutions. Today is about accountability. It is about responsibility. It is about your voices being heard, about the abuse that you face, the effects it had on your life, and the loss of potential and what could have been. It is about the mamae finally being acknowledged after all these years, and it is about the apology. I’d like to acknowledge the wonderful apologies from both the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.

Today is also about action because, after all, that is what survivors up and down this country wish to see. Action is coming in two ways. The first is this omnibus bill, which we are discussing today. The second is the redress. I acknowledge, as many will do here, that survivors wanted the redress yesterday, not tomorrow, but I also acknowledge that it is extremely complex and it will take time to get this redress right. The honest truth, as the Prime Minister said before, is that no amount of redress makes this OK or justifies the abuse and the mamae that survivors experienced. Also, as the Leader of the Opposition said, the redress, when it does come, will be a big bill, but it will be small in comparison to what is deserved.

This bill is really about starting this process. As has been covered today, it is about making changes to four pieces of legislation: making changes to the Oranga Tamariki Act to amend the requirements for search and to improve the safety and wellbeing of people in residential care; the Children’s Act—changes to this Act will ensure that those with overseas convictions cannot work with children in State care. The third bill is the Crimes Act, which will ensure that those with a disability are included in the definition of a “vulnerable adult”. Finally, changes to the Public Records Act will improve, once and for all, the record-keeping practices in this country.

Today is a start, but as has been signalled, there is a long road ahead on this journey together. As survivor Mr NM said, “Having kids—my daughter and sons—that kind of steered me away and onto a better path, but I’m still trying to find that direction and guidance. A lot of times it comes back to what happened to me in care, and I know I need to be proactive and positive. What I’ve got to share, it can make a big impact on a lot of others. It’s just about moving forward, and we all go forward together. I know it’s still a long way to go.” Nō reira, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

DANA KIRKPATRICK (National—East Coast): Thank you, Mr Speaker. Today is an historic day—one we will remember for years to come—but it is just the start.

Firstly, may I acknowledge all the survivors and whānau here today and those who are watching from afar. Today is another step in the long and arduous journey that you have been on for many years now. To the survivors, your courage and determination to fight for justice and redress has been heard and believed. Your stories are harrowing, heartbreaking, emotional, and confronting. As we heard the apology here today, the raw emotion was evident among you. To those who have come from the East Coast and all over the country and to those who fought for this day but have passed, I hope that this will be a step towards further change and that we’ll see a system that never treats people in this country like this ever again.

It’s an honour to be the final speaker today on the first reading of this legislation, which begins the steps for change for 138 recommendations. My colleagues across the House have covered many parts of the omnibus legislation today, but I want to finish this with some changes outlined for the Public Records Act. On the face of it, maybe not the most dramatic part of what’s happened.

For one moment, can we just reflect on the trauma that people went through. Firstly, at the hands of the most hideous of perpetrators, only for those survivors and their whānau to do their best to survive a life forever shaped by trauma, torture, sexual assault, mental health issues, self-doubt, and worthlessness, to then gather the courage to request their records so they could reconcile what happened to them, only to find that much of what they knew in their hearts and minds didn’t exist in the records. This then meant there was no evidence for redress for criminal actions or to get help through ACC, medical professionals, or others, which exacerbated the trauma further and only reignited long-held feelings of despair.

Survivor Beverly Wardle-Jackson wrote a book titled In the Hands of Strangers. Beverly requested her files from child welfare, and, in her words, “as I read the notes that had been recorded about me, I wept. Shock, anger, and feelings of worthlessness welled up inside me. I could hardly believe the coverups, whispers and lies people had written to justify their treatment of me.”

As if they had not endured enough, survivors have consistently highlighted the high value they placed on accessing their records. Records fill important gaps in what they know about why they were in care and what happened to them whilst they were there. But there were so many barriers and limited guidance on how to access records. They were spread across numerous agencies, some of which don’t exist any more. Institutions sometimes couldn’t find the records, some took an unreasonable length of time to find them, and many were hidden or destroyed. And, in the records that did exist, they often had the wrong names, dates, or details. One survivor said the lack of proper record keeping has been one of the most difficult parts of this process. It undermines a system of redress if no accurate records are kept, and it makes the whole process stressful. It also made it difficult, as I’ve said, to provide evidence required to take claims seriously.

The barriers to accessing records fundamentally affected survivors’ ability to heal. Limited records affect their ability to claim redress but also bar survivors from understanding their own experiences and the abuse, harm, and trauma they experienced. In the words of one, “The records I received through my OIA request are very valuable to me. Other children have photos. All I have is records.”

This part of the omnibus bill sets out the changes that need to be made to the Public Records Act 2005 to ensure we do better. Survivors have repeatedly stated that for an apology to be meaningful, it needs to be accompanied by commitments to action, and this bill demonstrates our commitment and signals the start of legislative change in response to the royal commission. This is just a first step. As a Government, we will do everything in our power to prevent abuse from occurring in the future because this is the legacy that we owe to survivors.

I’d like to acknowledge the coalition partners and the Opposition parties for their support in progressing this bill, and the changes in this omnibus bill will drive change in the Oranga Tamariki Act, the Children’s Act, the Crimes Act, and the Public Records Act. I want to acknowledge the Hon Erica Stanford and her team, including other Ministers, for beginning this work and ensuring people are heard and valued along the way, as well as all of those who are involved in the royal commission of inquiry.

As I thank the survivors one more time for their courage and tolerance, I note that across the House we all commit to working together and to a point where, for the sake of our children, we can all commend this bill to the House. Thank you.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a first time.

SPEAKER: The question is, That the Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill be considered by the Social Services and Community Committee.

Motion agreed to.

Bill referred to the Social Services and Community Committee.

Instruction to Social Services and Community Committee

Hon ERICA STANFORD (Lead Coordination Minister for the Government’s Response to the Royal Commission’s Report into Historical Abuse in State Care and in the Care of Faith-based Institutions): I move, That the Responding to Abuse in Care Legislation Amendment Bill be reported to the House by 14 March 2025.

Motion agreed to.

Adjournment

Hon SIMEON BROWN (Deputy Leader of the House): I move, That the House do now adjourn.

Motion agreed to.

SPEAKER: The House stands adjourned until 2 p.m. tomorrow.

The House adjourned at 4 p.m.