News & Events

For me the most powerful words were virtually unintelligible. Gary Williams is severely disabled and in a wheelchair, but that did not limit the power of his words, which were flashed up on a screen behind him. He was the first survivor to speak at the event. He spoke directly to the Government and you…

The lack of a new redress system for survivors proves the royal commission of inquiry’s recommendations were pointless, argues Steve Goodlass. It is a cruel irony that on the very day a US cardinal – implicated in covering up abuse – was elevated to Pope, the New Zealand state chose to entrench the status quo…

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is being accused of breaking a promise to survivors of abuse in state and faith-based care. The accusation came on a day which Keith Wiffen said should have been one of celebration. Instead, for many survivors, it was another day of sorrow. Wiffen, who was abused as a child at the…

Calls for a new, survivor-driven redress system have been unanswered by Government, which chose instead to invest more in the existing state-led operation. Seven hundred and seventy-four million dollars will be put towards redress for abuse in state care, but the redress system that survivors called for won’t materialise. Friday’s announcement by the Government’s lead…

More children in care are reporting they’ve been physically, emotionally or sexually harmed, while government agencies play hot potato with vulnerable kids. Just months after the Prime Minister apologised to those who were abused in state and faith-based care, independent monitoring shows the same problems persist in today’s care system. A new report from the Independent…

Almost one in 10 tamariki and rangatahi are being abused or neglected in state care, a report by the Independent Children’s Monitor has found. Between July 2023 and June last year, 507 of 5722 children were abused or neglected while in the custody of Oranga Tamariki. The number of those in state care had decreased…

A group of abuse survivors, accompanied by two horses, have marched into Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) offices in Christchurch. Among the protesters’ demands is that ACC reforms eligibility for coverage for abuse survivors, immediate redress and an end to government’s boot camps. The about two dozen survivors of abuse in care and their supporters marched…

Abuse in care survivors are outraged after senior ministers suggested lowering expectations on government commitments. Abuse survivors Ken Clearwater and Tu Chapman spoke to Corin Dann. Listen to report

Solitary confinement destroys people, but New Zealand continues to inflict it on our most vulnerable and damaged people, including children, as a matter of course. Aaron Smale reports on the practice that won’t go away and the people that are psychologically annihilated and physically disappeared in state institutions. Shane was locked in a concrete box…

The publication, Coming In From The Cold, includes the experiences of 26 male survivors, generously shared by Tautoko Tāne staff and clients with editor Bex De Prospo Carr and ably crafted by her pen. The history is summarised in four seasonal essays contributed by Tautoko Tāne Lead Educator, Fiona Clapham Howard, who is also a…