Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Wildly different caucus meetings loom for National and Labour, new case of community transmission announced, and anger mounts over wage subsidy piss-taking. The mood in the room will be very different when the Labour and National caucuses meet this week. For Labour, it’ll be a crowded … Read more
After two weeks of deeply personal tales at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care hearing, common threads began to emerge. Katie Scotcher reports, in a piece originally published on RNZ. The setting was impersonal – a hotel conference room, with thick charcoal commercial carpet and name cards placed neatly on tables – … Read more
Distressing evidence from children and young people living in ‘locked-in care’ features in a newly released report from the children’s commissioner, who has repeatedly called for the facilities to be shut down. A new report paints a grim picture of life for children and young people in secure residential care facilities, and has prompted the … Read more
Colson Whitehead won the 2017 Pultizer Prize for Fiction for The Underground Railroad, a depiction of slavery and resistance in 19th century Georgia. Now he’s back with a similarly grim premise, following two boys through the horrors of a real-life reform school in Florida. Our reviewer is Aaron Smale, whose reporting on similar schools in New … Read more
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Massive bill looms for water overhaul, Five Eyes countries discuss backdoors for encrypted apps, and could Ihumātao lead to Māori politics reorganisation? Central government is set to take significantly more power over the water systems of New Zealand. The measures announced by minister for local government Nanaia … Read more
Best known for their door-to-door evangelising, Jehovah’s Witnesses are on a quest to save the ‘wicked’ from damnation. For victims of sexual abuse within the organisation, however, that quest has seen perpetrators shielded from justice. Amy Parsons-King has met several survivors as part of an investigation for The Spinoff. These are their stories. This feature … Read more
From today, the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State Care is welcoming submissions from the public on the draft Terms of Reference. Chair of the Royal Commission Sir Anand Satyanand gave his first interview to Waatea News breakfast host Dale Husband this morning. “We very much appreciate that he has chosen Māori … Read more
The success or failure of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into state welfare abuse will depend on how much attention it gives to Māori boys – and a change in New Zealand’s attitude, writes Aaron Smale. Years ago while reading Anne Else’s 1991 book A Question of Adoption, I came to a chapter that talked … Read more
Ōtaki’s Māoriland Film Festival, which kicks off this week, features a documentary about Australia’s apology for the Stolen Generations – and what’s happened since. Aaron Smale spoke to director Larissa Behrendt. Larissa Behrendt’s father didn’t talk about it much. But one day he suddenly made an explicit reference to his time in a boys home. … Read more
The forthcoming inquiry into state care abuse must remember that women were victims, too, writes Paora Moyle, herself a former ward of the state. Last week on The Spinoff, Aaron Smale shared personal stories of state abuse of indigenous people in New Zealand, Australia and Canada, and asked what we can learn as New Zealand … Read more
Around the world, there are many abuse victims who have been saddened, angered or re-victimised from inquiry processes. These are the lessons for New Zealand, writes criminologist Elizabeth Stanley. This week Aaron Smale has been sharing personal stories of state abuse of indigenous people in New Zealand, Australia and Canada, and asking what we can … Read more
Indigenous peoples throughout English-speaking countries have had their children taken away by the state for generations. Most countries have faced up to this legacy but New Zealand has been in denial about its own Stolen Generation – a group now known as Ngā Mōrehu (The Survivors). The new Labour government has agreed to set up … Read more
Indigenous peoples throughout English-speaking countries have had their children taken away by the state for generations. Most countries have faced up to this legacy but New Zealand has been in denial about its own Stolen Generation – a group now known as Ngā Mōrehu (The Survivors). The new Labour government has agreed to set up … Read more
Indigenous peoples throughout English-speaking countries have had their children taken away by the state for generations. Most countries have faced up to this legacy but New Zealand has been in denial about its own Stolen Generation – a group now known as Ngā Mōrehu (The Survivors). The new Labour government has agreed to set up … Read more
‘This is not my New Zealand.’ Ahead of her speech to the UN this week, the Race Relations Commissioner calls on politicians to stand on principle and do right by the victims of institutional abuse. Earlier this year I was on the same train in America where a week before a man had murdered two … Read more
I have asked myself why I didn’t do something about the shocking treatment of institutionalised children, writes Kim Workman. If the government fails to respond to our calls now, this issue will become a matter of national shame I am urging fellow New Zealanders to support Dame Susan Devoy’s call for a full inquiry into … Read more