The Chief Executive of Auckland’s urban Māori Waipareira Trust says today’s formal government apology to survivors of abuse in state care will be little more than hollow words for many.
This follows years of investigations and a Royal Commission of Inquiry.
Government agency sector leaders will apologize first, before the Prime Minister delivers his formal apology in Parliament.
Waipareira Trust CEO John Tamihere says the government is calling redress for abuse a “complex” issue.
However, an apology alone, without a clear statement of redress for years of abuse in state and faith-based care, is hollow.
“You cannot compensate for that but you have to. Because a lot of these people are elderly now, and you’ve got to alleviate the difficulties that they are suffering at the moment through no consequences of their own. You know they didn’t put all this on themselves, so, a hollow apology is no good,” say Tamihere.
John Tamihere says the problem with this government is its mounting financial issues—particularly in public healthcare—making redress for survivors unlikely to be a priority.
