Abuse In Care: Survivors Self-fund Travel To Parliament For Report Release

Tuesday, 23 July 2024, 6:49 pm
Article: RNZ

Tim Brown, Senior Reporter
22 July 2024

Survivors have largely or completely covered the cost of travelling to Parliament to see the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care tabled on Wednesday.

A packed public gallery is expected when the report is finally revealed this week, after almost six years and the evidence of almost 3000 survivors.

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told RNZ the government would soon "have more to say" about support for survivors travelling to Wellington.

However, there had been no announcements since.

On Friday, a spokesperson for his office referred all comment to the Minister of Internal Affairs, Brooke van Velden.

A spokesperson for her office referred comment to the Department of Internal Affairs and the department referred comment to the Survivor Experiences Service.

Travel assistance for survivors registered with the Royal Commission was offered in the form of a small contribution through vouchers for those outside Wellington. However, many survivors were not even aware that was available.

Abuse survivor and advocate Ken Clearwater was disappointed by the government's silence.

"This is an important day for survivors and for all of us that have been working in this field," he said.

"The survivors have been waiting some 30, 40, 50 years for this, so it's a pretty important day and it's a day where those who have been affected should be there, should be represented and an opportunity for not just the government, but for the country, to see the people involved."

Not only was the lack of financial support disappointing, so too was the lack of communication, Clearwater said.

"It's been really difficult for the simple reason there hasn't been much communication at all.

"Three of us are heading up and we've paid for it ourselves because it's so important for us to be there, but it is still coming out of our own pockets and to me that's wrong.

"One of the survivors sent me a link for us to be in the gallery at Parliament, and that came through the Survivor Experiences [Service], and at the bottom it had a a place where it says those who are out of Wellington could tick a box and there was a voucher there either for petrol or a food parcel.

"Unfortunately I didn't read that until after I had sent my application away because I was worried we were going to miss out on the seat in the gallery. So Survivor Experiences offered that, I don't know what value is, but for us to come from Christchurch to Wellington, airfares are not cheap."

Toni Jarvis - who was taken from his mother at birth and then suffered abuse at the hands of his adopted father and at several state institutions - said the government did not understand the significance to survivors of what was happening on Wednesday.

"I don't think they understand the trauma, the suffering of the people that have been through that, that still live with that. It's almost like 'This is just something we've got to go through and set aside'. It's just too much of a bother."

He said the tabling of the report marked the end of his more than 40-year fight for recognition, but it was also just the start of the fight to ensure the government delivered for those who had suffered abuse at its hands.

Being in the gallery was about holding the government to account, Jarvis said.

He received a small financial contribution from the Survivor Experiences Service, but it did not come close to covering the cost of travel from his home to Wellington.

Many survivors were struggling financially and more should have been done for them, Jarvis said.

Eddie Marriott - who suffered sexual, physical and psychological abuse at the hands of the Brothers of St John of God for a decade after the Department of Social Welfare sent him to Marylands School - said he was paying his own way to Wellington.

"The government hasn't been in touch - no one from the government has," he said.

"The Royal Commission let us know around about what date it was and I said, no matter what, I was going to get up there, be it hitchhike or whatever. I would have hitchhiked right from here to Wellington and got up there for it. All I needed was that confirmation date.

"When I got that from the Royal Commission, I was like 'right'."

He was unaware of any support available to assist survivors to travel and felt the government was again ignoring them.

"I do feel that it's like they would rather us not be there. They would rather us hear from their point of view - not be there in person," Marriott said.

"It's like they were trying to hold it in house."

Survivor Experiences Service executive director Polly Martin said it had been managing communications, engagement and on-the-day logistics for the tabling of the Royal Commission's final report on 24 July, including distributing information about how to attend, managing RSVPs and managing assistance with travel to the tabling.

"Assistance with travel has been made available for survivors that have registered with the Royal Commission of Inquiry and/or the Survivor Experiences Service, through a small contribution via vouchers.

"The amount of the voucher is based on where the survivor is travelling from, and is only available for survivors who reside outside of Wellington, and inside of New Zealand."

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