Joan Bellingham suffered burns, memory loss and bouts of blindness as a result of more than 200 electric shocks given in the misguided hopes of curing her homosexuality. Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Abuse in care survivors are calling on the government to announce its long-awaited plans for redress.
Lead response Minister Erica Stanford last month announced a $150,000 payment for a small number of survivors tortured at the Lake Alice child and adolescent unit.
But survivors of abuse in other settings says the time has come for the government to announce meaningful redress for all survivors and victims.
Joan Bellingham suffered burns, memory loss and bouts of blindness as a result of more than 200 electric shocks given in the misguided hopes of curing her homosexuality.
She believed her abuse amounted to torture.
The time had come for the government to outline its plans for redress for abuse survivors, Bellingham said.
"It's dragged on for long enough and I know there's a lot of people out there who feel they can't take much more," she said.
"It really has come to the point they've got to do something about it now."
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon promised action on redress and said he would outline the government's plans by the end of 2024. Photo: Parliament TV / Screenshot
When the final report from the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was tabled in July, the Prime Minister promised action on redress and said he would outline the government's plans by the end of 2024.
Christopher Luxon later walked that assertion back.
However, in the week before Christmas Stanford made the announcement on compensation for some Lake Alice survivors.
Bellingham said survivors of other care settings and the whānau of victims deserved the same dignity.
"We haven't been offered a payment - this is why we're feeling so exasperated. We haven't heard anything - nothing's been said," she said.
"I'm very pleased for the people at Lake Alice. I'm not pleased with the amount but at least they've had a start. We've got nothing."
Advocate Ken Clearwater, who worked with survivors of abuse by the Catholic Church, said the government was at the behest of bureaucrats and not survivors.
Those he worked with were angry, he said.
"They felt the government should have sat down and put it all out as one package because what it feels like now to a lot of survivors is its divide and conquer. Where one survivor is more valuable than the other survivor.
"There's a lot of anger out there and that concerns me."
Other government policies were compounding the hurt, Clearwater said.
"The other thing we're facing at the moment is the fact that all the services that are needed to help the survivors have been cut back. So we've got a shortage of counsellors, we've got a shortage of services who are needed to deal with these angry, hurt, traumatised people."
Collective of Abuse in State Care Charitable Trust chair Karl Tauri said the government needed to make immediate and meaningful redress for all survivors.
"Everything right across the board - immediate medical care, immediate housing," he said.
"Compensation can be done in many different ways. Whatever they decide, it's got to be immediately - now. The apology has just been words."
If the government still had questions about the shape which redress should take, there were plenty of survivor and advocate groups at the frontline who could provide the answers, Tauri said.
Government spokesperson Duty Minister Simon Watts said decisions on the redress system were yet to be made, though it was expected they would be taken in the first half of 2025.
"The Government recognises that this is frustrating for some survivors. However, the Royal Commission's inquiry spanned six years, and this is a complex issue that needs to be carefully considered," he said.
"During the national apology, the Government announced $32 million to increase capacity in the current redress system. It is unacceptable to have 4000 people in a backlog waiting to have their claims addressed.
"The lead co-ordination Minister has written to churches outlining her expectations, and officials are continuing to engage with them throughout this process."
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