‘My stomach sank, I threw up’

Abuse in care survivor Scott Carr’s reaction was instant when he read National Party leader Christopher Luxon’s promise to bring back militarystyle boot camps.

‘‘My stomach sank, I started sweating and I threw up.’’

The policy might sound good on paper but it was a ‘‘kick in the guts’’ to the thousands of survivors who shared their stories of abuse at similar camps, at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care over the past three years, Carr said.

Carr is a survivor of Whakapakari Youth Trust that was based on Great Barrier Island until 2004. It started in the late 1970s as a camp to help troubled teens by getting them into the great outdoors but by 1990 it was contracted by the Government to take difficult-to-manage wards of the state and youth offenders who were considered too young for prison.

Instead of rehabilitation, many of the children were subjected to violence and abuse – beaten, starved, sexually violated. Lawyer Sonja Cooper has represented many of the survivors of abuse at the royal commission, including some from Whakapakari, as well as

Moerangi Treks and Eastland Youth Rescue Trust where the state sent youth for ‘‘rehabilitation’’. She has dedicated her career to seeking justice for those abused in military-style boot camps and is an expert in the consequences suffered by those in the care of state institutions.

‘‘Luxon is coming from a privileged position, with no experience of what the reality is,’’ Cooper said. ‘‘I think what this shows is that both he and his advisers have taken no opportunity to educate themselves.’’