John MacDonald: No mention of money doesn't make today's apology hollow

When it comes to apologies there are generally two types: a sincere apology and a hollow apology.

And survivors of abuse in state or religious care are saying that the Prime Minister’s apology today for that abuse is hollow, because the Government isn’t saying anything today about redress or compensation.

The Government’s position is that it needs to take the time to make sure it gets the compensation scheme right and won’t be making any announcement until early next year.

Abuse survivors, though, say it should have been working on this long before now and today’s apology is undermined by what they think is a lack of timely action and work on compensation. Or, in other words, they’re saying that the apology is hollow.

Which I don’t agree with – I think the Government is right to take its time on this one. Which is probably easy for me to say because, thankfully, I haven’t been caught up in this nightmare.

Which is exactly what it has been and still is for these victims, or survivors as they prefer to be known, and they are the people criticising the Government today.

You’ll remember it was back in July when the final report on the massive inquiry into abuse of kids in care came out. 200,000 people were abused while they were, supposedly, being looked after by state and religious organisations.

And at the time the report came out, the Government said it would be delivering a national apology - which is what today is all about. And that it would be working on determining how the state will deliver what’s called redress. But, essentially, we’re talking about compensation for the victims who are still living.

Also included in that work is what changes can be made to try and ensure this kind of mass abuse can’t happen again, which is another priority for the abuse survivors.

I think it’s impossible to come up with changes that will stop it happening outright for the simple reason that there are evil people out there who can be very good at getting around structures and rules to do what they want to do.

But already the Government has this week announced steps to try and prevent abuse of kids in care. It's introducing a bill prompted by the Abuse in Care inquiry, which will ban strip-searching children.

So that’s all part of the redress work being led by Erica Stanford, who is the minister responsible for co-ordinating the Government’s response to the abuse in care inquiry.

The other big part of that response is the compensation side of things. Which survivors would have liked to have seen details from the Government today in parallel with the national apology.

But I think the Government’s right – this is something that can’t be rushed. I don’t think it’s something that should be neatly fitted-in with the timeline of the Prime Minister standing up today and delivering this apology that the country has to make, and which these poor buggers, whose lives were ripped apart, have been waiting years for.

In fact I’ve been very critical of the Government’s pace on some things. It’s been all quarterly action plans and runs on the board and, thank goodness, it isn’t taking the same approach trying to work out how it’s going to do to compensate these people.

Remember that it was less than two weeks ago when it announced that it was going to sort out things for people who were abused at the Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit, who reached a $6.5 million compensation settlement with the Crown in 2001 but then lost $2.6 million of that in legal fees.

So last week, after 20 years, the Government said it would fix them up for the $2.6 million they didn’t get.

That’s just one example of why taking a slow, measured approach is the best thing to do. It’s probably a basic example, but there are other reasons why I think the Government is taking the right approach.

Another reason why I think the Government shouldn’t be critic

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
When it comes to an apology, or when it comes
to apologies, there are generally two types out there. You've
got your sincere apology and then you've got your hollow apology.
And survivors of abuse in state or religious care are
saying today that the Prime Minister's apology for that abuse, well,

(00:34):
it's going to be hollow chants later on this morning,
it's going to be hollow because the Government isn't saying
anything today but redress or compensation. So the government's position
on this as it needs saying, we need the time,
we need to take the time to make sure that
we get the compensation scheme right and we won't be

(00:57):
making any announcement until early next year. Survivors of abuse, though,
they say the government should have been working on this
long before now, and they're saying that today's apology is
undermined by what they think is a lack of timely
action and work on compensation or in other words, what
are they saying. They're saying that the apology is hollow,

(01:21):
which I don't agree with. I think the government's right
to take its time on this one, which is probably
I get this. It's probably easy for me to say
because thankfully I haven't been caught up on this nightmare,
which is exactly what it's been and still is for
these victims, or survivors as they prefer to be known,

(01:42):
quite rightly too. They are survivors, those people, and they
are the people criticizing the government today. You will remember
it was back in July when the final report on
that massive look into abuse of kids and care came out.
Two hundred thousand people were abused while they were supposedly

(02:02):
being looked after by state and religious organizations. And at
the time the report came out, so back in July,
the government said it would be delivering a national apology,
which is what today is all about. Also said it
would be working on determining how the state will deliver
what's called redress in official terms, redress, but essentially we're

(02:22):
talking about compensation for the victims who are still living.
Also included in that work is what changes can be
made to try and ensure this kind of mass abuse
can't happen again, which is another priority for the abuse survivors.
I mean, just on that, I actually think it's impossible
to come up with changes that will stop it happening outright,

(02:43):
and that's for the simple reason that there are well
you know this, there are evil people out there who
can be very good at getting around structures and rules
to do what they want to do. But anyway, already
the government has announced steps to try and prevent abuse
of kids and care. It's introducing a bill prompted by
the inquiry, which will ban strip searching kids. So that's

(03:05):
all part of the redress work led by Erica Stanford,
who was the minister responsible for coordinating the government's response
to the Abuse and Care inquiry, and the other big
part of that, the other big part of that response
is the compensation side of things, which survivors would have
liked to have seen details from the government on today

(03:26):
in parallel with the national apology. But I think the
government's right. This is something that can't be rushed. I
don't think it's something that should be neatly fitted in
with the timeline of the primers are standing up today
and delivering this apology, an apology that the country has
to make and which these poor souls whose lives were

(03:50):
ripped apart have been waiting years for I mean, you
will know that I've been critical of the government's pace
on some things and how it's all been you know,
quarterly action plans and runs on the board blah blah blah,
and tell you what, Thank goodness, Well, I'm saying, thank goodness,
it isn't taken the same approach trying to work out
how it's going to compensate these people. You remember, I've

(04:15):
got several reasons for this. You might have others, but
remember that it was less than two weeks ago when
the government announced it was going to sort out things
for people who were abused at the Lake Elis Child
and Adolescent Unit. Remember they'd reached a six and a
half million dollar compensation settlement with the Crown in twenty
twenty one, but then straight away lost two point six
million of that in legal fees. So last week, after

(04:38):
twenty years, the government said it would fix them up
for the two point six million that they didn't get. See,
that's just one example of why taking a slow, measured
approach is the best thing to do. It's probably a
basic example, but there are other reasons why I think
the government's taken the right approach here and shouldn't be criticized.
I'm not having to go. I'm not having to go
with the abuse survivors, by the way, I'm just saying

(04:59):
that I don't think the criticism is fair. Another reason
is that whatever the govern decides to do, it will
set a precedent. There will be more survivors coming forward,
as they should, So this abuse and care compensation scheme,
it's not going to be a one off. It's going
to be something that will determine the scale of government

(05:21):
compensation for abuse by people working for the state ongoing.
Another reason not to rush it too is that it
wasn't just government agencies involved in this hideous abuse. Remember,
religious organizations were involved too, and the government will need
to negotiate carefully with these organizations because if they need

(05:43):
to stump up outfits like the Saint John of God
Order which ran the Boy's home in christ Church, We're terrible,
We're terrible. Terrible things happened, and pretty much every time
there's a story on TV about abuse and key, you
see that stock footage, don't You're the van going through
the gate and that pathetic looking sprinkler on the lawn outside.

(06:03):
So this is complex. The government has to get it right,
has to get it right for the survivors. And while yes,
maybe it would have been good if it was in
a position to announce compensation details today as well as
the apology, maybe it would have been good, but I
think it's much better to do a thorough job and

(06:25):
do exactly what it said it would and do the
right thing for the people it is apologizing to today.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
For more from Caterbory Mornings with John McDonald, listen live
to news talks It'd be christ Church from nine am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.