Abuse in state care witness Leonie McInroe describes her 'nine grueling and fraught years' fighting for compensation. Video / Supplied
New Zealand survivors of abuse in state care are compensated less than a fifth of comparable countries, lawyers representing thousands of victims say.
As of March last year, the Ministry of Social Development had paid out about $27.6 million to 1450 survivors, averaging just over $19,000 each, with a top payment of $80,000.
This paled in comparison to Ireland, where a similar process paid survivors on average just over $108,000, to a maximum of $522,000.
In Australia, survivors were receiving substantially more; the National Redress Scheme pays out on average $80,466 per claim.
Cooper Legal principal Sonja Cooper, speaking before the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry, said it reflected a "dismal failure" of the Crown to provide meaningful payments that made a difference in the lives of its victims.
The commission is investigating abuse in state and faith-based care between 1950 and 1999, and in this latest phase has been hearing the experiences of survivors in seeking redress, such as compensation, counselling or an apology from the state.
Over the past week and a half about a dozen survivors have shared their stories of the sexual, physical, emotional and psychological abuse they experienced in state care and the trauma and lifelong impacts that followed.
Some of these survivors had spent over a decade battling for redress from powerful Crown agencies - agencies that were supposed to keep them safe - only to in some cases settle for as little as $5000.
Cooper called for an "urgent review" of the processes, to ensure New Zealand was meeting its international obligations to ensure survivors of state abuse were receiving comparable compensation to other survivors of harm caused by the state.
Cooper Legal partner Amanda Hill (left) and principal Sonja Cooper. Photo / File
Among survivors, there were vastly different levels of compensation.
Lake Alice Hospital provided by far the highest settlements - claimants received up to $124,000. The first round of payouts was on average $68,000 including legal fees, and the second $49,500 excluding legal fees.
Redress for abuse in other psychiatric hospitals averaged about $9000, and from MSD just over $19,000.
They recognised there was a limited budget to fully compensate the economic losses the Crown's victims will have suffered from the abuse, but proposed the payments be periodically reviewed to ensure they were fair and equitable.
Remedies
Cooper, whose firm has settled 1100 claims and had 1250 further clients with 1400 open files, said the state redress process was "broken" because of a lack of transparency, independence and accountability for its processes.
She and Amanda Hill, a partner at the firm, repeated their call for an independent body to investigate claims of abuse in state care.
They also proposed a statutory redress scheme, as in Australia and Ireland, which would have the power to ensure payments were equitable and provide "top-ups" where necessary.
"You cannot have the alleged abuser or the organisation responsible for abuse investigating itself, making findings and also then deciding about compensation," Cooper said.
While compensation was important, apologies were especially so as part of the healing process.
But many survivors, of several sexual, physical and psychological abuse, have spoken of only receiving formulaic letters acknowledging the abuse, signed by unknown staff members.
"Any apology needs to be meaningful," Hill said.
"It cannot be templated, it needs to be individualised and meaningful."
They also advocated for a range of other changes including to ACC around physical and sexual abuse, and removing Limitations Act barriers around timeframes for lodging claims.
The 10-day hearing into redress was the first of two planned. A second in October is for state entities' witnesses to talk about their processes.
The Royal Commission will ultimately make recommendations to the Governor-General in 2023 about how New Zealand can better look after those in its care.
