Chhour KarenHon KAREN CHHOUR (Minister for Children): Thank you Mr Speaker. As today is a day of reflection and acknowledgement of the past I would just like to take a moment to acknowledge those who are no longer with us those who never had a chance to hear their voices heard those souls who left this world only knowing the horrors they experienced the cruelty and the unbearable treatment that they received and my heart goes out to them. I'd also like to acknowledge everyone who is in the gallery here today or watching from afar. I know this will not be easy for many. I know our words here today cannot and will never take away the pain of what has happened. But I do pray it goes a little way towards lifting the lifetime of frustration of not being heard not being believed. And for that I am truly sorry.Today we table a document in this House that is evidence of systematic abuse that went ignored for decades by those who were supposed to protect us. Through inadequate responses by those who knew suspect or suspected abuse was going on. Through inadequate screening management or accountability of abuse of people who were working in the system. Through children young people and those with disabilities and with mental health challenges being ignored or dismissed when they tried to speak up.As both Minister for Prevention of Family and Sexual Violence and Minister for Children this report is extremely important. It helps myself and those working within this space now to have a true understanding of how the State and faith-based agencies so badly failed in their basic duty of care and protection. It lays down the challenge for us going forward when we create systems and policies and practices—that they uphold the rights and the wellbeing of those in need and protection.It has been extremely hard and distressing to read the individual stories of victim/survivors who speak not only of what happened to them back as children but also how that abuse has impacted them throughout their lives and as adults and the generational trauma that persists in their often complicated relationships with their families to this day. The fact that so many offenders were able to victimise and harm repeatedly for years on end negatively impacting countless children and their families for generations long past their own lifetimes is devastating and unacceptable. The ease with which these crimes were committed is horrifying. These perpetrators knew that society was conditioned to not believe young victims. These monsters used their positions of authority both as a weapon and a shield. Children believed that police Government and other adults who were complicit in the abuse due to the stonewalling of their cries for help. And rightly so.We must take a long hard look at not only the perpetrators but those who enabled this abuse to continue for so long by choosing to look the other way. Which is why I cannot express this enough: if you see something say something. Too many of us have failed and still to this day are failing to do this. There are deep connections between both of my portfolios. Many of those in care and the protection system are there due to family violence and sexual violence being part of their everyday lives. It is unacceptable to remove a child from harm only to place them in an environment that is equally unsafe or worse.What is important now is that we continue to drive change. I cannot stand here and say with my hand on heart that young people are no longer being hurt in care. But what I can say and what I should be able to say is that my expectation is that they will listen they will be believed and we will address it immediately. To not do so is unacceptable. I have made my expectations crystal clear that the children's system as a whole needs to work to recognise harm and stop it from happening. We are making changes to address the issues in care and protection system but there is way more to do and it is far from perfect. Some of those working to make the change we need to see and who are making the real differences are Oranga Tamariki staff who were themselves survivors who suffered trauma too and joined the organisation to fight for change from the inside. I want to acknowledge those people today. We need the care system as a whole for children and for adults across all settings and environments to become increasingly safer for those who need it. We know that children and young people who were put into these environments were often already victims of abuse harm or trauma which was only made worse by their new living conditions and the lack of sufficient support in care.Time and time again the report points out Māori being disproportionately affected being massively overrepresented in numbers of children and young people taken from their homes and put into State care. No one regardless of their race gender or any other identity deserves to be in a situation where they are abused and denied basic care and I am committed to doing everything within my power to ensure that no child or young person in New Zealand suffers abuse in State or faith-based care. I want capable workforces who respect those that they work with social norms that respect everyone and systems that respond appropriately when we don't. Events at residences such as Epuni were appalling. This has been the driving force for me focusing on ensuring that residences of today are the best that they can be.The severity of what these children went through was repeatedly referred to as hell on earth. Their time in State or faith-based care included stories of electric shocks injections as punishment physical and sexual abuse extended solitary confinement emotional and psychological abuse not to mention the continuous racism ableism and homophobia.According to the definition outlined by the Solicitor-General the children who were sent to Lake Alice went through torture. The unchecked power that people had over children in far too many facilities across this nation combined with access to isolated physical environments away from families and support networks led to the ideal environment for abusers to do whatever they wanted with little to no consequences.This quote from the Stolen Lives Marked Souls report sums up the nature of the abuse clearly: These men used and abused their spiritual and physical power and dominance destroyed the lives of children and then discarded them."A victim survivor in the Beautiful Children report talks about the vicious cycle these children were caught up in. After being sexually abused by a man in charge of referrals to Lake Alice a boy tried to commit suicide. He says "He did it to me and I complained and I wasn't listened to. I tried to kill myself. And because of that that's how I ended up in Lake Alice. You see what happens? They violate you they complain you get punished further and nothing happens to the perpetrator. Silence is golden."When these children would rightfully lash out or react to the abuse by trying to run away or misbehaving their abusers would use that as evidence against them to justify locking them up further mistreating or punishing them and using the behaviour to discredit these children as not trustworthy and able to be ignored.I have my own personal trauma related to dealing with State care and this report affects me deeply. I am filled with compassion for the hardships and the trauma that so many have endured and continue to suffer from. This report has renewed my determination to break the cycle of family violence and sexual violence. It's time we face this poison that is rotting our nation from the inside. Because of this I also feel an enormous level of responsibility to be a strong advocate and a leader of change to ensure that not only those who suffered abuse as children long ago but also those in the system today are heard and our entire system responds to them in a safe and appropriate way.I commend the courage of those who came forward about their abuse despite being silenced and not being believed in the past. I also would like to acknowledge those who may not have submitted but suffered all the same. I will do everything in my power to make sure that nothing like this can happen again. You have my commitment to listen to learn from the experiences that you have shared. What has happened is clearly unacceptable. This report tells us that we tolerated rape and abuse of vulnerable people and the misuse of power for far too long. It is time to learn from our mistakes and change. This report and its recommendations are confronting powerful and clear. A lot of the stories contained within are extremely vivid and deeply shocking. This did not just happen in a few isolated cases or situations; the abuse was systematic continuous and sadly normalised. Abusing a position of authority over those who have no ability to stand up for themselves and who needed protection and love at such a critical time in their development is a crime beyond measure. It is important that we act decisively and honour the courage of these victims and survivors by making sure that something like this never happens again."