August 16, 2022
Government bosses front up to abuse inquiry
A Māori health advocate says government agencies need to for up with solutions to past abuse, not excuses.
Officials from 12 agencies including Oranga Tamariki and Police are set to appear before the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care this week.
Lady Tureiti Moxon from Kirikiriroa’s Te Kohao Health says they represent people and structures who were not only responsible for abuse but may well be continuing with it.
“There’s got to be some recompense in all of this. There’s got to be something that actually says ‘we are sorry for what we have done and we will stop doing what we have done previously and we will do things together with you so we can actually make it better for all of us and so that we don’t repeat the hurt, the pain, the trauma, the grief of the past,'” she says.
Lady Moxon says if there isn’t a Māori for Māori solution the Royal Commission will have been a waste of time.