Luxon is set to deliver a formal apology on November 12 following the Abuse in Care report. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Analysis - The politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse in care now the Royal Commission's report has been tabled, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns to Parliament.
"The buck stops here. We either do something or we don't. We either tinker or transform."
That was Chloe Swarbrick speaking during the debate on the Abuse in Care report. She was stating Parliament's responsibility to make laws and changes to end the abuse of children and young people in care, and she was right. This one can't be put in the 'too hard' basket.
The final report of the Royal Commission's inquiry into abuse in state and faith-based care was tabled in Parliament on Wednesday and is now a public document of nearly 3000 pages containing detailed accounts of the suffering of more than 2300 survivors.
The media poured resources into reporting its accounts of the horrific abuse that occurred between 1950 and 2019. It concluded that about 200,000 in care were abused, while many more were neglected.
Stuff called it 'abuse on an industrial scale' and RNZ produced a video titled 'Unsafe Harbour: In honour of the survivors and victims of abuse in state and faith-based institutions'.
It's on the website with a warning that it includes graphic details of sexual abuse.
"The stories contained in this report serve to all New Zealanders a very harsh jolt of reality," said Erica Stanford, the minister in charge of co-ordinating the government's response.
"I think we believed that these sorts of unimaginable horrors and atrocities never happened here, but they happened in other places."
Chief Children's Commissioner Dr Claire Achmad, reported by RNZ, said state care and the youth justice system was continuing to harm children and young people.
"She says Oranga Tamariki data shows 519 children have been harmed in the last year, with 894 recorded findings of harm," the report said.
"Many of the survivors spoken to by RNZ say they are glad the report is finally being released, but some remain sceptical over whether the government will honour it."
That's the issue facing Parliament, and it's not the government working alone that has to come up with answers.
Cross-party support
From Prime Minister Christopher Luxon down, leaders have pledged to work together on the response to the report because this goes way beyond party politics and point-scoring.
What they said during the debate is laid out in RNZ's report 'Abuse in care report: Politicians pledge cross-party action'.
Luxon began the special debate, saying it was "a dark and sorrowful day in New Zealand's history".
Survivors in the public gallery applauded when he told them: "You are heard, and you are believed."
Luxon said the government was formally acknowledging that experiences at Lake Alice psychiatric hospital amounted to torture, and he apologised for this having taken so long.
"It is now the responsibility of the state to make redress and this government will ensure it happens and as prime minister I will ensure the state carries its care and protection responsibilities with great weight," he said.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins said New Zealand owed an enormous debt to the survivors and the Royal Commission had shone a light on a "nationwide intergenerational shame for New Zealand".
Hipkins won applause when he said abuse in state care was not over, and he thanked Luxon for his words.
"Prime minister, we didn't do enough, and the ball now falls to you and your government. This must be bigger than politics," he said.
Greens co-leader Swarbrick said survivors had told her they wanted two things on the record: the apology, and to identify what redress and justice looked like.
There had to be financial redress but more than that. "This apology must transcend into ensuring that no people are ever subjected to this at the hand of the state ever again," she said.
ACT's Karen Chhour, who is Minister for Children and is the only sitting MP who has experienced the care system at first hand, delivered her speech with passion and sorrow, the report said.
"The fact that so many offenders were able to victimise and harm, repeatedly for years on end, negatively impacting countless children and their families for generations long past their own lifetimes, is devastating and unacceptable," she said.
"These monsters used their positions of authority both as a weapon and a shield."
NZ First MP Casey Costello spoke for her party, saying the report was a judgment. "As a society and as the Crown, we should have done better," she said.
"We have heard your voice, we have seen your face and felt your pain. Today you have changed lives, moved hearts, and opened eyes."
Te Pati Maori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer said the Crown must be held accountable for the abuse "because it is criminal, and it is criminal negligence… there must be consequences."
Ngarewa-Packer said authorities must learn from the report.
"So I will not stop until the last of our breath goes out and I can sit here and say that this place stops creating harm for not just our people but all of our people and all of our mokopuna," she said.
Luxon promises further announcements
Luxon will deliver the formal apology on 12 November, and between now and then the politicians will work on redress and changes that will be made.
Luxon said further announcements would be made before the end of the year.
Speaking about redress - the commission called for "meaningful financial compensation" - Luxon said it wasn't about the dollars.
"It hasn't been a factor in our consideration because actually when you read those accounts and you read those reports, it's important we do the right thing."
The Herald reported that currently survivors of abuse and neglect in care could receive up to $25,000 from the government, but exactly how much depended on the length of time spent in care.
When it comes to what will be done to prevent abuse in the future, the politicians have in front of them 138 recommendations from the report.
They're set out in RNZ's report 'Abuse in Care: Changes recommended by the Commission'.
They include setting up a specialist police unit to investigate and prosecute those responsible, with cases opened or re-opened.
The report also recommended public apologies from numerous senior figures, including the Prime Minister, the Pope, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Commissioner of Police.
It will get one from the prime minister on 12 November, and probably from the Commissioner of Police.
Health NZ in for major surgery
Parliament was back in session this week, Luxon was back from the NATO summit in Washington and the government's week began on Monday with the announcement that Health NZ was in for some major surgery.
Luxon and Health Minister Shane Reti delivered the news that the country's biggest Crown entity was overspending by $130 million a month and if that continued there would be a $1.4 billion deficit by the end of the financial year.
Health NZ was created by the previous government in 2022, a single entity replacing 20 DHBs.
"Frankly, it was appalling implementation from a government with a passion for mismanagement and non-delivery," Luxon said.
The DHBs had been "smashed together" and "massive layers of management" had been put in place.
There was more along those lines, including Reti saying that between March 2018 and March this year back office staff increased by 2500 and there were 14 management layers between Health NZ's executive and the frontline.
To fix this up, they said, the board was being replaced by a commissioner, Professor Lester Levy.
There wasn't much to replace. Of the board's seven members five have either resigned or left when their terms ended.
The government appointed Levy chairman in May after Karen Poutasi resigned, having held the position for less than a year.
Levy is a qualified medical doctor, originally from South Africa, and has vast experience in health management.
The 70-year-old is a professor of digital health leadership at Auckland University of Technology and has been appointed by ministers of health across the political divide to positions including chair of three Auckland DHBs and Crown Monitor of Canterbury DHB, Stuff reported in its article 'Who is Lester Levy?'
He's also been an advisor to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and an independent expert advisor to MBIE.
Levy has been given responsibility for what must be one of the most difficult turn-around missions handed out.
He has to end the overspending and work within budget with no impact on services.
Levy held a press conference in Auckland and identified shorter waiting times for treatment as his priority, the Herald reported.
He said Health NZ did not need more money, it needed to spend it more wisely. "It can be done but it does require a different paradigm and a different approach".
Levy spoke of the "bloated and bureaucratic" back office which he said had to shrink.
'Unnecessary and inappropriate reductions'
Critics piled in, led by Labour leader Chris Hipkins.
He rejected the claim that Health NZ's plight was the previous government's fault.
"Let's be really clear about this - the deficit that they're currently talking about is something that has emerged since March of this year," he told Morning Report.
"It's not something inherited from the last government, it's happened under this government's watch and desperately trying to pedal blame back to the last government is farcical."
Others included Dr Phil Bagshaw, founder of the Canterbury Charity Hospital and quoted by Stuff.
He said health had been underfunded for decades, notably since the 1990s, and he was shocked by the government's announcement.
"There's been unnecessary and inappropriate reductions in investment in health which need to be reversed and the notion that one person will be equipped to address all of these massive problems is beyond my belief," he said.
Stuff published an analysis of Health NZ's position written by Rachel Thomas.
In it she asked how on earth Health NZ had ended up in its current financial predicament after the previous government spent $1.8 billion wiping out the deficits held by the 20 DHBs.
"Health Minister Shane Reti has been clear what he wants from the system - faster cancer treatment, shorter ED wait times, shorter waits for specialists and surgeries and improved immunisation rates," she said.
"All great ideas, but the Budget included no funding for these, nor has it established a roadmap to get there."
Thomas said the facts were that in the first full quarter under the new government, the number of people waiting for a procedure rose by 4000, those waiting for a first specialist appointment rose by nearly 10,000, and the pace of cancer treatment times fell below target.
Her conclusion was: "To be clear: no increase in funding will mean a reduction in services. It will mean more people do not get care when needed. It will mean more burnout, more workforce gaps and longer wait times."
Darleen Tana returned to Parliament this week as an independent MP after being ousted by the Greens who asked to resign her seat as well.
She's not going to do that, RNZ reported.
"I'm pleased to be back and I'm determined to continue serving the people," she told media.
"I came in to work on coastal protection and restoring inner coast marine environment and I'd love to… achieve some movement in those areas."
There's been no recent contact between Tana and her former party, and the Greens have to decide whether to use waka-jumping legislation to force her out of Parliament.
It has strongly opposed the legislation in the past, and is expected to put the question to members at its annual meeting this weekend.
The last word this week goes to Social Development Minister Louise Upston: "I stuffed up."
She was explaining why she wasn't in Parliament when one of her bills was called and it had to be discharged.
*Peter Wilson is a life member of Parliament's press gallery, 22 years as NZPA's political editor and seven as parliamentary bureau chief for NZ Newswire.
