The Royal Commission into Abuse in Care’s repeated delays in producing its report insult abuse survivors. That’s what Lake Alice survivor Paul Zentveld said when he heard the Government had extended the Commission’s report deadline for a second time. The high-level inquiry was due to hand over its report by June this year. It will Read more
The Presbyterian Church community in Dunedin is looking in to a historic paedophile ring operating within the church community. The Church has appointed a senior King’s Counsel (KC) to investigate allegations that arose during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care hearing last month. The Church has agreed terms of reference with the Read more
One of the five commissioners investigating historical abuse in care has left the inquiry just eight months before it is expected to wrap up and will not be replaced. Julia Steenson was appointed to the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry in June 2020, following the resignation of Sir Anand Satyanand as its chair. Read more
Catholic Archbishop Paul Martin, the current Apostolic Administrator of the Diocese of Christchurch, accepts that survivors want the church to take responsibility for historical abuse cases and not just leave it to the particular order involved. He made the comment at the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care inquiry investigating historical abuse by the St Read more
The bishops and congregational leaders of the Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand will closely study the interim Redress report of the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care and look at how they can implement the recommendations. The report — He Purapura Ora, he Māra Tipu; from Redress to Puretumu — was tabled in Parliament Read more
Lawyers for New Zealand Churches and a Catholic bishop acting in a private capacity tried to push back on the scope of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in care, says the Royal Commission chair. The move infuriated a survivors’ group so much it has pulled out. This is a “final blow” to an Read more
Skyrocketing spending saw Cabinet Ministers (pictured) thinking of asking churches to help pay for the Royal Commission into historic abuse in care. Official documents reveal the myriad of options the government also considered using artificial intelligence to analyse potentially highly sensitive documents. The aim was to cut staffing costs. Instead of passing on the expenses Read more
The government is seeking to tighten controls on the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care. Besides insisting on a firm 2023 deadline to wind up the investigation, the government has told the Abuse in Care Commission that they may not investigate modern care providers and post-1999 cases of abuse. In addition, the Commission’s budget blow Read more
Survivor groups are not hopeful that the Royal Commission into the Abuse in Care will bring around change in churches. A spokesperson for the Network of Survivors of Abuse in Faith-Based Institutions, Liz Tonks, told RNZ that “victim-survivors were not hopeful because their experiences of churches is they have not been able to trust them Read more
On Tuesday 23 March, Dr Thomas P. Doyle, a US former Dominican priest will appear at the Royal Commission via audiovisual link from the United States. The Royal Commission says Doyle’s submission Firstly sets out the scope and recent history of clergy sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, how canon law applies and how the Read more