One last fight for abuse apology
A plea for the Government to acknowledge its role in the suffering of child migrants over 60 years ago, is being rekindled by a Manawatu abuse survivor.
An inquiry into the historical child abuse and institutional failings of the British Empire in post-war migration schemes to New Zealand and other former colonies was launched last week in the United Kingdom.
It has encouraged Malcolm Axcell, one of the hundreds who fell through the cracks into neglect and abuse, to renew calls for a formal apology from The Crown at home.
Australia formally apologised in 2009, and the UK followed suit the next year. Axcell said almost every country involved had apologised except New Zealand.
Between 1949 and 1953, thousands of children, many homeless or orphaned, were sent to former British colonies, mainly Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Zimbabwe.
New Zealand took 549 boys and girls for placements with relatives or foster homes arranged by the Child Welfare Department.
Axcell was one of the first to arrive, stepping onto an Auckland pier from the SS Rimutaka on June 5, 1949.
He said he and other children suffered horrendous mental and physical abuse, and were often treated as slave labour by foster families. No-one believed them when they spoke up. When they ran away, police or the Child Welfare Department brought them right back.
Axcell said he had tried to put it all behind him, and had accepted an apology would never come, but the UK inquiry made him realise this could be his last chance to fight for it.
‘‘That’s what I keep thinking, in another 10 to 15 years we’ll all be dead. There’ll be no-one left to apologise to.’’
Social Development Minister Anne Tolley said she would not comment on the issue until she received advice from the ministry.
Axcell was still mad at the response from thensocial Development Minister Paula Bennett in 2009, who said children sent to New Zealand had been treated far better than in other countries.
Most were put in foster care, not state institutions, and a state apology was unlikely, she said at the time.
Axcell hoped it would be different this time.
‘‘I just want this Government, now, to just once recognise us ... two words. It wouldn’t hurt. That’s all I want, nothing else. Don’t say it didn’t happen, it bloody did happen. There’s no difference, [why] does it matter if it’s in a private home or an institution?’’
Palmerston North National list MP Jono Naylor said he would wait for the result of the UK inquiry before weighing in on whether a state apology was appropriate.
He said while there was no doubt the abuse happened, he needed more information to determine if the Government at the time shared responsibility for it.