NEW ZEALAND
Radio NZ
February 27, 2018
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says state care survivors did not want their cases “diluted” by the Royal Commission looking into abuse by the Church.
A father and son who say leading Catholic clergymen sexually abused them as schoolboys are accusing the Prime Minister of going back on her past assurances about including religions institutions in the inquiry.
The terms of the upcoming Royal Commission on abuse in state care excludes institutions such as churches – unless children were sent to them by the state.
So for instance, a child sent to St Patrick’s by the state is on a different footing from one sent by their parents.
Ms Ardern told Morning Report the reason they made the distinction was because for thousands of children between the 1950s and late 1990s, the state was essentially a parent, therefore the state needed to take responsibility.
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