Frazer Barton denies advising Presbyterian Support Otago to destroy records of children in its care. Photo: NZ Law Society / supplied
The president of the Law Society denies he advised the head of Presbyterian Support Otago to destroy records of children in its care to protect the organisation's reputation.
Frazer Barton was the subject of a formal complaint from Cooper Legal law firm, after information came to light in the Royal Commission of Inquiry's final report that he advised the head of Presbyterian Support Otago she could destroy the records of all of the children and young people it cared for.
The Inquiry said its investigation into abuse at Presbyterian Support Otago was made "particularly difficult" because the organisation destroyed its records in late 2017 and 2018.
The report said Presbyterian Support Otago's chief executive at the time Gillian Bremner, told a staff member to destroy the records - apart from a register of names and dates.
Bremner told the Inquiry she obtained advice from lawyer and ex-Presbyterian Support Otago Board Chair Frazer Barton - about destroying the records.
According to the Commission's report, Barton advised Bremner she needed to pass on a survivor's records to their lawyer.
When he was asked whether the rest of the records of all the children and young people in its care could be destroyed, Barton said they could, at an "appropriate milestone or anniversary".
Cooper Legal partner Sam Benton said he had lodged a complaint because of his duty to report suspected misconduct.
RNZ was unable to contact Gillian Bremner.
Barton told Morning Report he did not know that in 2017 and 2018 there was the possibility of an inquiry into abuse in care and that the records would have been crucial for that reason.
"My advice to destroy them at an appropriate time, that's not go ahead and destroy them now," he said.
"No one keeps records forever. In my mind you keep them for as long as the person's alive and when they've died it's safe at that point to destroy them.
"The inquiry of me in 2017 was firstly, should this information for a particular claimant be disclosed, and I said yes that information must be disclosed.
"Then I am asked, essentially, can these files be destroyed? I said at an appropriate time."
He said no one ever came back to ask what an appropriate time was. "What I would have said is many years ahead, when the people concerned were dead."
Barton denied advising any destruction of records to protect the reputation of Presbyterian Support Otago, saying Bremner needed to be asked why she ordered the destruction of the records.
"It should not have happened, it was appalling, they should not have been destroyed."
The report said the documents had already been destroyed by the time an order was made in March 2019 prohibiting state and faith-based institutions from destroying potentially relevant information.
