The Government's inquiry into the historical abuse of children in state care will be a Royal Commission of Inquiry, headed by former Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand.
A man who says he was sexually assaulted by a priest is calling on the Government to include religious institutions in its inquiry into historical abuse in state care.
Chris Travers posted on Facebook that he "nearly killed a priest with my bare hands" to stop an attempted sexual assault.
Travers, husband of former Green Party chief of staff Deborah Morris-Travers, revealed in the post that the priest sexually assaulted him on church property, in 1986.
"I nearly killed a priest with my bare hands as I choked him until he stopped his attempted assault. That, and only that, is what stopped him," he said.
Travers, who was 18 at the time, said the church had led him and his family to believe he was safe to visit the priest.
He later found out the priest had been moved there in 1985, or earlier, in what Travers called "a hopeless and misguided attempt to 'manage' a sexual predator and paedophile".
The now 50-year-old said he was originally bound by a confidentiality agreement, but felt open to talk freely about the issue after the church recognised "gagging orders" were another form of "re-victimisation".
"I speak 'my truth' freely in making this call; and say #SoMeToo," Travers said.
He said the church had received state funding to help provide his secondary education, so he believed it should fall under the terms of reference of the Government inquiry.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into historic state care abuse was announced at the start of the month.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Minister for Children Tracey Martin announce the Royal Commission of Inquiry into historical abuse of children in state care. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Minister of Internal Affairs Tracey Martin said the draft terms of reference approved by Cabinet task the Royal Commission with looking into what abuse happened in state care, why it happened and what the effects were, particularly for Māori.
The Commission is also asked to identify lessons that can be learned from the abuse.
The inquiry covers the 50 years from 1950 to the end of 1999, and will consider physical, sexual and emotional abuse and neglect.
The "state care" definition covers circumstances where the state directly ran child welfare institutions, borstals or psychiatric hospitals, as well as where the government contracted services out to other institutions.
It does not include prisons, former penal institutions, general hospital admissions, religious institutes, schools, and sports, recreation, arts and culture, community and hobby groups - unless the person was in state care at the same time.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has earlier rejected calls for religious organisations to be included in the inquiry, but said survivors of abuse at the hands of a church were welcome to speak to the inquiry.
"And if they come forward and have connection to the state and have been abused, we have a responsibility to more than listen. We have to act," she earlier said.
She told Radio NZ's Summer Report in January that inquiry was focused on the role the state played.
"We need to hold responsibility, we need to open ourselves up to inquiring into the harm we had direct responsibility for. We haven't even done that yet."
Ardern said she understood the concern from other people who have suffered abuse "beyond the state", and called on religious institutes to consider what they could do to look into allegations of abuse.
But she added that a church's internal inquiries wouldn't necessarily satisfy victims.
The inquiry has also been criticised for not spanning a wide enough time period, with critics saying it should scope to 2017.
