September 07, 2017
Lessons of past abuse must be learned
Maori Women’s Welfare League president Prue Kapua says the Government is concerned about limiting its liability for historic abuse in state care rather than trying to ensure it never happens again.
The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has backed calls for an independent inquiry, but National says it has addressed the problem though the creation of the Ministry for Vulnerable Children Oranga Tamariki.
Ms Kapua says that’s not credible, as has been pointed out by Judge Caroline Henwood, who headed the confidential listening service which heard testimonies from some of those who had been in care.
"Judge Henwood’s report is quite clear. The abuses that occurred were preventable. They happened because people were in jobs and positions, there wasn't oversight so those are systemic things and if we don't want to repeat this we need to know what exactly needs to happen to ensure it doesn't get repeated but at the moment we can have a new ministry set up and we can be repeating all the mistakes and the tragedies of the past," she says.
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