The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care has been challenged by survivors to drive genuine change, not just another rebrand.
Kohitere Boy's Training Centre in Levin was one of the main welfare institutions that has been the subject of complaints. Photo: RNZ - Aaron Smale
Friday was the final day of a two-week hearing into Māori experiences of abuse.
It opened a fortnight ago with Tupua Urlich, who spoke of his experience in state care in the '90s and early 2000s.
He told of how he was torn from his whānau and sent to strangers who beat him every day. Then how he was ignored and belittled when he tried to tell social workers what was happening.
He returned to the Royal Commission on Friday with a challenge.
"As someone who has been through this and is now taking part in this Royal Commission process, the challenge is to the commissioners: don't take mana away from what we've given you," he said.
"Because talking about things is not easy, but what makes it harder is when you're talking the same things over and over and over again and the situation remains the same for our whānau."
The commission has heard two weeks of painful testimony.
It has heard from people who were taken from whānau, split from siblings, and placed with strangers. It's also heard about state institutions where children endured physical, sexual, and psychological abuse.
It has heard from young people who were locked in solitary confinement for weeks, in boys' and girls' homes that were nothing more than criminal training grounds.
It heard of tamariki Māori being made to work as slave labour, rendered invisible.
When they tried to tell someone, they were only met with the callous indifference of bureaucracy. When they tried to run away, they were returned and punished even more harshly.
It has heard of adoption being used as a tool of assimilation; and it's heard from people whose Māori names were taken away, too hard to pronounce.
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The hearing was wrapped up on Friday by Julia Spelman, the independent counsel assisting the Royal Commission.
"The things we have heard did not happen by accident or through isolated acts of individuals. Over generations, state- and faith-based systems have allowed acts of terrible violence and abuse to tamariki and vulnerable adults," she said.
Spelman pointed to the irony in the term 'care system'; a system that was - and many say still is - devoid of care.
Crown counsel Melanie Baker said the accounts were deeply disturbing.
"The voices of whānau Māori we have heard over these two weeks will help to drive changes to prevent further abuse and to inform what redress looks like to those who have suffered," she said.
But they're all words Tupua Urlich has heard before.
"What I have learned from a lot of my life in this space is that you can't take the Crown's word for nothing. We can't just sit back and allow this stuff to continue.
"We need to be listened to, there needs to be action. You know the patronising, the whole 'great that you're here' and that. I don't need that.
"I need you to listen, and I need you to act."
Friday was the last day of the Māori hearing, but the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care still has some way to go.
It is expected to make its final recommendations next year.
