Survivors of abuse in care are feeling deflated two weeks on from the Crown's national apology.
The Royal Commission gave the government until last Sunday (recommendation 131) to publish responses to each of the 138 recommendations in its report.
That deadline has now been and gone, though lead coordination minister Erica Stanford said she had long signalled four months was not enough time.
Stanford said the government had worked through 28 recommendations so far and the whole lot would be done this time next year.
She did not accept that the delay would be a disappointment for survivors.
"I don't think so at all. Survivors should have every confidence in this government that we take the report seriously.
"You saw that in the prime minister's very heartfelt and sincere apology, which was a monumental occasion. But also in the steps that we've taken in addressing those 28 recommendations."
Tu Chapman keeps "holding out hope [the government] will actually come through". Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Tu Chapman, who is part of Te Whare Mōrehu, said the Crown keeping to deadlines was important to survivors.
"It's compounding non-action upon non-action. It keeps happening again. I keep holding out hope they will actually come through.
"We continue to wait and the more we keep waiting the more distrusting we become of those who have been elected in the seats they sit in to represent us."
Survivor Fete Taito, who was involved in organising the national apology, said he and many other survivors had returned to living in limbo after the apology.
"The apology is hollow until I see what's behind those words and I think that's a fair indication of how a lot of survivors I know are feeling."
Fete Taito is a survivor of abuse in care. Photo: Supplied
Survivor and Dunedin prisoner David Bagley watched the Crown's apology on the 6pm news that day and said it felt like "lip service".
"I don't really believe that they brought closure for anybody. In fact, for me, it's just opened up old wounds."
Bagley said he was incarcerated with other survivors - some who had spent time at Epuni Boys' Home - and believed many were feeling short-changed after the apology.
"It's left a very distasteful impression on them. It's brought up the past for them and creates a lot of animosity towards the government.
"We all initially have slipped through the cracks of the justice system and they've failed all of us and let us down. We're now reliving the past and it's painful."
The coalition has just clocked its first year in power and asked what his most memorable day had been, the Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said it was the apology.
"I think the actual national apology for me was pretty emotionally impactful," Luxon said on Wednesday.
Chapman said it was more words and no action.
Abuse in care survivor Fete Taito wants this artwork 'He kākano i ruia mai i Rangiātea' at Parliament to travel throughout the country so survivors everywhere can see it, but the government has not yet decided on this request. Photo: Supplied
"Quite bluntly, his acknowledgement of the day and how he felt about it is worthless.
"I'm not attacking the person's level of empathy or sympathy, but you've got to follow it up with action and the words didn't speak louder than the actions this time, unfortunately.
"So look, hats off to the prime minister for acknowledging this was a significant day for him, it wasn't for survivors."
Taito said he was keen to see some artwork - presented on the day of the apology - travel around the country to connect with other survivors.
"You can't just shut it in a dark corner. It's too late. You can't do that to the taonga. It's got a mauri now, it's got a life force. You have to take it around to the regions. This is the conduit to connect us together, all the survivors."
The government is yet to make any decisions about that request.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
