What victims of historic abuse want

The victims of historic state abuse have had a clear set of requests all along, says the lawyer representing more than half of them.

They’d just like the chance to sit down with the Government and talk about it, Sonja Cooper said.

They may now get the chance after Prime Minister Bill English made comments appearing to soften the Government’s stance against providing further redress and support for the victims.

That was despite multiple requests to hold an inquiry into the systemic abuse suffered by state wards from the 1940s to early 90s, being consistently rebuffed by Government for the past 18 months.

Following the delivery of a petition to Parliament last week, calling for an inquiry, English said the Government was open to discussions on exactly what it is victims of historic abuse and their advocates wanted.

The request on behalf of victims of State abuse had been reasonably consistent, Cooper said.

‘‘First, the State, through the Prime Minister, should apologise for the abuse suffered by children and other vulnerable people in care,’’ said Cooper.

‘‘Secondly an independent authority should be set up to deal with claims made by victims of abuse, rather than the government departments which are in a conflict position. This would better ensure that the process was fair and transparent.

‘‘Victims want to be assured that what happened to them will not be repeated. If the lessons of the past are not public and are not recognised, then abuse of children in State care will continue. That is evident now in our growing work with those under 25.’’

She said the Government’s change of tack was a surprise.

‘‘The Human Rights Commission has asked the PM and Ministers to meet on at least two occasions and have been ignored.’’ It was not credible for the Government to say it knows what happened to victims of State abuse when the only information it relied on came from officials,’’ she said. ‘‘This is a very filtered version of what happened to those who suffered abuse as officials routinely reject the most serious claims of abuse in order to reduce the amount of compensation payable.’’

The Human Rights Commission has welcomed the Government’s new stance and looked forward to facilitating a meeting between ‘‘the Commission, survivors, other advocates and the Prime Minister’’.

‘‘Truth and reconciliation is the right thing to do for New Zealanders who were robbed of childhoods and lives by abusers who were paid to care for them,’’ said Race Relations Commissioner Dame Susan Devoy.

Disability Rights Commissioner Paul Gibson said the abuse was systemic ‘‘so we need to investigate the very system that abused them’’.

English laid the foundations for an apparent shift on Monday, telling media at his post-cabinet press conference the Government that ‘‘if there are additional steps that can be taken in addition, that can help them, we’re interested in that’’.