WELLINGTON (NEW ZEALAND)
Radio New Zealand
August 7, 2019
By Michael Cropp
Survivors say they’re losing faith it will uncover the extent of what happened to children in state and church care.
Some of them hope Sir Anand isn’t the only commissioner to step down.
The Commission has been dogged by controversy since it was set up early last year.
That includes appointing a gang member to a key role, using survivors for trial or pilot interviews, claims Sir Anand fell asleep while a survivor told their story and accusations commissioners shut down questions on potential conflicts of interest.
Social worker, and survivor of abuse in state care, Paora Crawford Moyle, said Sir Anand’s resignation was yet another blow.
“It’s worrying, it makes [me] and probably my brothers … really wonder what’s going on in there and what else is to come,” she said. “Are the cracks starting to appear.”
Ms Moyle said she did not have a lot of faith in the inquiry and she was worried the work would not get done, because the Commission was having to spend so much time on damage control.
That was a view shared by Anne Hill, a survivor of abuse in church care.
“I have found it quite re-traumatising and at times very frustrating because the issue of child abuse gets lost in issues about who has the power to speak now,” Ms Hill said.
Liz Tonks, from the network of survivors of abuse in faith-based institutions, said people were having trouble believing the inquiry would go ahead.
“Any issue that needs to be resolved and isn’t straightforward and just doesn’t let them get on with the job, is a setback. Survivors have been waiting for this for years,” she said.
Attention’s now turning to who’ll take over when Sir Anand leaves in November.
Dr Christopher Longhurst, a Catholic church member who was also the national leader of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, was worried Judge Coral Shaw – who he found dismissive and disapproving during a hearing earlier this year – would get the job.
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