Katherine Rich MP
National Party ACC Spokeswoman

17 June 2005

ACC must clarify role in abuse conference

"ACC needs to clarify its sponsorship role in the questionable "Many Faces of Abuse" conference scheduled for later this year," says National Party ACC spokeswoman Katherine Rich.

"This fringe conference has a wacky, and what appears to be in some cases a dangerous programme.

"I am not denying the right of people to gather and debate their ideas. What I am questioning is why taxpayer money is being diverted to fund the conference. "ACC is being promoted as a major sponsor. The Minister needs to explain ACC's involvement and divulge the level of sponsorship," says Mrs Rich.

Abstracts from some of the presentations assert, among other things that:

* Sexual abuse can have a "higher purpose" and is a "tool for enlightenment and spiritual growth".

* New Zealand should aim for "future work where abuse is regarded as a spiritual agreement between victim and perpetrator to achieve a higher goal of experiencing the dynamic of unbalanced power".

* Treating mental illness with antidepressants and antipsychotics is a "chemical assault" which "sets up the person to be abused in extraordinary situations".

* Drug treatments make people "vulnerable to sexual abuse/assault" likening medical treatment to date rape.

* "Few people come out of the medical health system without being abused by its treatments".

* Within our mental health services patients will "almost inevitably" be abused.

* "Forces actively conspire to create a workforce and an workspace confusion in rest homes which then become a location of elder neglect and elder abuse".

* "All hospital patients are at an increased risk of harm" while in hospital settings.

* "Hospitals are perilous places for all patients".

* "Abuse is a natural, normal human pursuit".

Ends

© Scoop Media