Luxon surprised a number of people, myself included, when the Royal Commission’s final report was tabled in July by acknowledging that the abuse suffered by hundreds of children at the Lake Alice adolescent unit in the 1970s was torture. And he said sorry.
For over 50 years successive governments have avoided facing up to the full reality and responsibility of what happened not only at Lake Alice but in a number of state institutions. So Luxon’s words were a breakthrough.
The Lake Alice case is something of benchmark, not only because it was one of the worst cases of institutional abuse but because it was the first case where victims took civil cases against the Crown and the Crown did its utmost to avoid accountability.
In 2002 victims were paid out around $100,000 but many of them lost around 40 percent of that in legal fees that should have been paid by the Crown. That is now going to be paid out, but without any additional interest or calculations for inflation.
But now the Government is in a position to provide something substantive to victims not only of Lake Alice but to the thousands who went through state institutions.
The out-of-court settlement was ex gratia, which is the Crown saying it’s a gift rather than compensation, thereby avoiding any legal liability. Will this government couch any settlement in the same way?
And what should the Crown be paying out to victims who went through torture?