Erica Stanford: Abuse in Care response Lead Minister on the proposed compensation for Lake Alice survivors

Survivors of Lake Alice hospital, who battled the Crown in court, are now being urged to contact the Government for compensation. 

A Royal Commission of Inquiry has acknowledged children at the Manawatu hospital endured torture in the 1970s. 

The Government is offering to reimburse survivors who fought for redress in 2001, but lost a significant amount on legal costs. 

Minister-in-Charge Erica Stanford says it's estimated about 70 people in this group are still alive. 

"We don't have, unfortunately, all of their details. We've got many details - and some of them I've been in touch with myself - but we're relying on them to come forward."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Don't together do see a bit of a win for
survivors of Lake Alice today the government's announced it will
reimburse these survivors for around twenty seven thousand dollars worth
of legal fees each, which dates back to a settlement
with the government in two thousand and one where the
law firm acting for the survivors clipped the ticket. Eric
Stanford is the Minister in charge of the Abuse and
Care Response. He erica, Hi, how are you?

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Why?

Speaker 1 (00:21):
I well, thank you? Why are you doing this?

Speaker 2 (00:23):
Look? It's the right thing to do. It's been over
twenty years of it and historical injustice whereby one group
of Lake Elis survivors had their legal fees deducted from
their redress, whereas subsequent groups didn't. And look, many subsequent
governments have chosen not to write this, but it is
the right thing to do and Cabinet have made that
decision that we will reimburse their legal fees.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Should the law firm Grant Cameron and associates have clipped
the ticket like this.

Speaker 2 (00:50):
Look, that's a question for mister Cameron that you'll have
to put to him.

Speaker 1 (00:53):
But should they have word free? I mean the counterfactor
as they would have worked for free, should they have No.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Obviously, lawyers are allowed to take a certain percentage. And
the thing for the government though, is that in the
second round and subsequent redress claims that we've had, we
have paid the legal fees for all of those Lake
Ellis claimants and we didn't for the first round and
it's just not been put right and now it has been.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Do you have a problem with how much they clipped
the ticket because forty percent is a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah. Look, as I said, I just don't want to
get into that. It's a question for mister Cameron. We're
just putting it right.

Speaker 1 (01:28):
Are you going to I mean, are you seeking any
reimbursement from the firm or are you just going to
double pay this? Basically, no, we're not.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
We will just be We will just be paying those
claimants back.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
How many of the ninety five who settled in two
thousand and one are still.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Alive, It's hard to say. We don't have all of
the information, you know, we are thinking about seventy. But look,
we will see who comes forward. We've left it open.
We're going to make it in the expedited process and
we'll see who comes forward. We don't have unfortunately, all
of their details. We've got many details in some of
them I'm in touch with myself, but there will be

(02:04):
many of them that we have old information for, so
we're relying on them to come forward to us.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
And where are you at with the final settlement? How
far away is that yet?

Speaker 2 (02:15):
In terms of like Alice the redress for torture, the
Prime Minister has said on the record that it is
a priority for us this year and we've been working
through the finer details and we're taking papers through Cabinet.

Speaker 1 (02:28):
Erica really quickly, because of course you are the Education
Minister as well. What do you make of that Erro
report today on the truancy Completely unsurprising. We've known for
a long time that you know, our kids aren't going
to school. The chronic numbers you know, we've known have
been increasing. I think that the really key question is

(02:48):
schools can't deal with us on their own. These are
you know, for some of these children that are transient,
they've got severe trauma in their lives, dysfunctional homes, many
of them have been severely bollied. So look, I think
schools are going to need a lot of support, not
only from the Ministry of Education, but from other departments
as well. Erica, thanks very much appreciated. Eric Stanford, Minister

(03:10):
responsible for the government's response to the Abuse and Care inquiry,
also Education Minister for more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive.
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