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Download AudioGreen MP Teanau Tuiono says an interjection of ‘no boot camps’ was an honest response to the Royal Commission report on abuse in care – and distrust the coalition Government will heed its recommendations.
The 3000-page report includes a case study of the Whakapakari or boot camp, which ran on Aotea-Great Barrier Island between 1977 and 2004 with the purported aim of using the environment and outdoor activities to deprogram youth from drug abuse, develop self esteem and confidence and learn skills and Māoritanga.
Survivors, all of whom ended up in prison as adults, told the inquiry of cruel and inhumane treatment including a rape club culture.
Mr Tuiono says the report dropped just days before the start of a new boot camp in an Oranga Tamariki home in Palmerston North where he lives.
“You say you’re going to apologise but then you keep doing all these things. You’ve got boot camps. You disrespect Te Tiriti o Waitangi. Tou want to get rid of 7AA (in the Oranga Tamariki Act), all of these sorts of things that point to empowering Maori,” he says.
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