Public Service Commissioner’s apology to survivors of abuse in state care
On 12 November 2024, Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche made an apology to New Zealanders who were abused while in state care.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State Care and Faith Based organisations was established on 1 February 2018 to investigate children, young people, and vulnerable adults’ experiences of abuse and neglect in State and non-State care in Aotearoa New Zealand between the years of 1950-1999.
The Royal Commission ended on 25 June 2024. Its final report and recommendations Whanaketia – Through pain and trauma, from darkness to light Whakairihia ki te tihi o Maungārongo was publicly released on Wednesday 24 July.
One recommendation (3b) from the Report calls for: Public acknowledgements and apologies for historical abuse and neglect in the care of the State (both direct and indirectly provided care) and faith-based institutions should be made to survivors, their whānau and support networks by: public sector leaders, including the Public Service Commissioner, Solicitor-General, Commissioner of NZ Police and the Chief Executives of Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Education.
The Public Service Commissioner gave his apology alongside other public sector leaders to survivors at an event held in Parliament on 12 November 2024. The text of his apology is below.
You can also find apologies from other public sector leaders at:
Public Service Commissioner Sir Brian Roche’s apology to survivors of abuse in care
Firstly, I acknowledge the survivors of state abuse and your whānau and supporters gathered here today and those who have passed.
As the Public Service Commissioner, I unreservedly apologise for the abuse and harm inflicted on you by the State. I acknowledge that this harm disproportionately affected Māori and Pacific people and disabled people, tāngata whaikaha Māori, Deaf and Turi Māori.
The organisation I lead failed you. It is our duty, in fact our core mission, to ensure the standards of integrity and conduct of public servants are upheld, and to enforce them. The Commission is also the employer of Public Service Chief executives and the organisation responsible for holding them to account. I regret that we did not always deliver on these responsibilities.
I acknowledge the fault of the Public Service that I lead. Our public service should have kept people in its care safe and protected. Complaints of abuse and neglect in care should have been responded to appropriately and abusers held to account. I deeply regret our failure to do this.
Agencies have not always communicated with each other and this meant we sometimes failed to help and safeguard children, young people and adults in care, as well as their families and communities.
I also acknowledge that we should have done more to ensure that timely and appropriate redress was made available to survivors.
As a Public Service we haven’t represented the diversity of the people we are meant to serve or been as inclusive as we should have been. We also haven’t always focused enough on ensuring the public service can effectively engage with Māori and understand Māori perspectives. The Commission has a leadership role in ensuring these things are prioritised by the Public Service and I acknowledge we didn’t get it right.
As the Public Service Commissioner, I accept responsibility for these failings, and I deeply regret that you suffered the harm and abuse these failings allowed. I apologise for that.
I know nothing I say today can ever fix these wrongs. What we can and must do, however, is make changes that will ensure that those who are in state care now and in the future are kept safe from harm.
To ensure that coordinated action is taken and that agencies are held to account for making the necessary changes, the Commission is taking a number of steps:
- We have established a Crown Response Office within the Commission with its own Chief Executive – this is a key recommendation from the Inquiry. A Statutory Deputy Public Service Commissioner is now chairing a Board of responsible Chief Executives to coordinate their actions in responding to the recommendations.
- We are working with agencies to provide assurance that claims of individual public servant misconduct made in the report are addressed.
- We are reinforcing and strengthening the standards of integrity and conduct that are expected of all public servants and the avenues for speaking up through a public service wide integrity programme.
I know that the Public Service must do better. And it’s my commitment to you all that we will do better.
This is just the beginning; there is much more to do.
Te whakapāha a Tā Brian Roche Te Tumu Whakarae mō Te Kawa Mataaho ki ngā mōrehu o te tūkino i te wā tiaki
Tuatahi ake, ka tūtohu au ki ngā mōrehu o te tūkino karauna me ō koutou whānau kua huihui mai nei i tēnei rā, me te hunga kua ngaro i a tātou.
Hei Tumu Whakarae mō Te Kawa Mataaho, nei taku whakapāha herekore mō te kino me te hē i pā ki a koutou e te ringa o te karauna. Ka tūtohu au he nui ake te kino i pā ki te Māori, ngā iwi Pasifika me ngā tāngata whaikaha, Turi hoki.
I mūhore te tari nāku i whakahaere. Koinā hoki tā mātou haepapa, otirā ko te iho o ā mātou whāinga, ko te whakarite i te ngākaupono me ngā whanonga kounga a ngā kaimahi kāwanatanga, me te whakaū i ēnei āhuatanga. Ko te Kōmihana hoki te rangatira o ngā Tumu Whakahaere o te Ratonga Tūmatanui, ā, ko te haepapa a te tari kia noho papanga rātou. E pōuri ana ahau kāore mātou i whakatutuki i ēnei haepapa i ngā wā katoa.
Ka tūtohu au mō te hapa nui a te Ratonga Tūmatanui e arahina ana e au. Ko te tikanga kē me tiaki te ratonga tūmatanui i te hunga e taumarutia ana e mātou, otirā kia haumaru te noho. Kāore i uruparetia tikahia ngā amuamu e pā ana ki te tūkino me te whakahapa i te wā tiaki, otirā kāore ngā kaitūkino i hāmenetia. Nōku te whakapāha nui i tō mātou mūhore ki te kōkiri i tēnei āhuatanga.
Kāore i tika te whakawhiti kōrero a ngā tari, nā reira i mūhore i ētahi wā te āwhina me te whakamaru i ngā tamariki, ngā taiohi me ngā pākeke e taumarutia ana, me ō rātou whānau me ngā hapori.
E tūtohu hoki ana au arā kē atu te nui o ngā mahi e tika ana kia mahia e mātou ki te mātua whakarite kia wawe, kia torowhānui hoki te puretumu i wātea ki ngā mōrehu.
Hei Ratonga Tūmatanui, kāore mātou i whakaatu i te kanorautanga o te tangata e tika ana ka whakaratoa e mātou, otirā kāore i eke ki te kauawhi e tika ana. Kāore hoki i aronui rawa ki te whakarite kia whaitake te whai wāhi a te ratonga tūmatanui ki te Māori, kia mārama ai ki ngā tirohanga o te Māori. Ko te tikanga kē ia ka noho Te Kawa Mataaho hei kaihautū i ngā mahi whakaarotau a te Ratonga Tūmatanui i ēnei āhuatanga, nā reira e tūtohu ana ahau kāore i tika i a mātou.
Hei Tumu Whakarae o Te Kawa Mataaho, nōku te haepapa mō ēnei mūhoretanga, otirā he nui taku pōuri mō te tūkino me te hē i pā ki a koutou i hua ake i ēnei mūhoretanga... ... ko taku whakapāha tēnei.
Ahakoa te nui o aku kupu, e kore e whakatikahia ēnei hēnga. Engari ko tā mātou hei whai ināianei, ko te whakarerekē i ngā whakahaere, e mātua whakarite ai kia kauparetia te hunga kei raro i te maru karauna i te kino.
E mātua whakaritea ai te rurukutanga o ngā mahi, ā, kia noho papanga ngā tari mō ēnei whakarerekētanga, he nui ngā hātepe kua whāia e Te Kawa Mataaho:
- Kua whakaritea e mātou he Tari Urupare Karauna i roto i Te Kawa Mataaho, me tāna ake Tumu Whakarae – otirā he tūtohu matua tēnei i puta i te Uiuitanga. Ka noho tētahi Kaikōmihana Tuarua ā-Ture o Te Kawa Mataaho hei upoko o te Poari o ngā Tumu Whakarae ka noho haepapa ki te ruruku i ā rātou mahi ki te urupare ki ngā tūtohu.
- Kei te mahi tahi mātou me ngā tari ki te whakaū i te whakataunga o ngā kerēme o ngā mahi reho a ngā kaimahi kāwanatanga takitahi i puta i te pūrongo.
- Kei te whakapakari hoki mātou i ngā paerewa ngākaupono me ngā whanonga kounga e kawatautia ana i ngā kaimahi kāwanatanga katoa, me ngā ara whakaputa kōrero mā roto i tētahi hōtaka ngākaupono puta noa i te ratonga tūmatanui.
Kei te mōhio ahau me pakari ake ngā mahi a te Ratonga Tūmatanui. Ko taku kī taurangi ki a koutou katoa, ka rangatira ake ā mātou mahi.
Ko te tīmatanga noa iho tēnei; inā kē atu te nui o ngā mahi hei whai mā mātou.