Abuse apology at inquiry

A senior public servant has apologised to state care abuse survivors for the way they were treated by government agencies responsible for handling their claims, including two brothers who were surveilled by private investigators. Public Service Commissioner Peter Hughes, who was chief executive of the Ministry of Social Development when the survivors made their claims, yesterday apologised unreservedly at the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care’s State Institutional Response. “What happened to those who were abused in care, should not have happened. And I deeply regret that it did,” Hughes said. “I also acknowledge that in attempting to assess and settle those claims, we did not get everything right.” Hughes was giving evidence on the last day of a two-week hearing in Auckland where the Royal Commission examined the responses of state agencies to cases of abuse and neglect.