Minister Erica Stanford has announced $774 million will be spent improving New Zealand's care system. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
The government cannot say how much of its investment in abuse in care redress will end up with survivors.
Last week, Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry Lead Response Minister Erica Stanford announced the government would not set up a new compensation scheme for survivors, despite a new redress system being the primary recommendation of the Royal Commission and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon assuring survivors at November's apology that such a system was being developed.
Instead, Stanford announced $774 million would be spent improving the existing system and making changes to New Zealand's care system.
Following enquiries from RNZ, a spokesperson for the Minister confirmed only $533.5 million was actually earmarked for redress and it was unclear how much of that was destined for survivors.
The funding would be used for "redress system changes and provision of redress for abuse in care (including the survivor experience service and konae)".
RNZ asked for a further breakdown of the funding, including how much was set aside for administration costs, but Stanford's office said it was not possible to provide those numbers at this time.
Breaking down new abuse in care funding
- Redress system changes and provision of redress for Abuse in Care (including the survivor experience service and konae): $533.5 million
- Implementing the government's response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care: $28.4 million
- Bolstering safeguards and oversight of compulsory mental health and addiction care: $9.4 million
- Building a diverse, capable and safe care workforce: $71.5 million
- Empowering families, whānau, and communities to prevent entry into care: $25 million
- Improving mental health inpatient unit environments: $50.7 million
- Recognising and responding to abuse of children and young people in care: $16 million
- Recognising and responding to abuse of disabled people in care: $8.8 million
- Record-keeping to improve quality, quantity, capacity, access and whānau connections: $6.8 million
- Crown response office operating funding: $24 million
Survivor and advocate Keith Wiffin said the government continued to prop up failing systems and ignoring the experience of survivors.
"When they announce these figures, it creates a misconception in the public mind that all this money is going towards those who have suffered - survivors - and it's just not the case," he said. "It just adds great insult to injury.
"It's always been the case with these monumental failed schemes that the investment made into them gets, for the most part, sucked up by administration costs and the fund disappears.
"It was a very good reason as to why the announcement should've been about an investment in an independent process, because one of the things that would've achieved is it would've made all those expensive government agency processes redundant - where the resource could've been far more allocated to those who have suffered."
The government needed to change its approach, Wiffin said.
"We spend, annually, somewhere between $5 (billion) to $6 billion on the care industry, but only a fraction of that goes towards the benefit of the person in care.
"We should have had, on Friday, an announcement on a new way of doing things, because until we do things differently, we are going to get the same outcome."
Earlier this week, it was revealed almost a quarter of National's flagship FamilyBoost policy had [. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/560892/familyboost-policy-14m-of-62m-spent-on-administration-costs gone towards administration].
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