Russell
Palmer Political reporter
Parliament
has recorded parties’ votes on the Abuse in Care redress
bill after skipping that step during the third
reading.
The legislation that passed its final reading
on Wednesday night puts in place a redress system for those
abused in the care of the state.
That system would
provide payments to those who suffered abuse, with a redress
officer appointed to determine who is eligible.
People
convicted for serious violent or sexual offences would be
able to apply, but by default be presumed ineligible. Other
eligibility criteria will be set out by the redress
agency.
The NZ Herald reports officials expect up to
80 claims a year, but the funding
may run out if demand is higher, with Finance Minister
Nicola Willis accepting no bids for additional money for the
Crown Response Fund as part of Budget 2026.
The final
vote on the bill passed with a vocal majority, with
Assistant Speaker Maureen Pugh turning down a request for a
party vote.
When Pugh called for agreement on the
bill, a chorus of “aye” rang out, but when she asked for
noes there was relative silence.
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MPs then called for a
party vote, but she responded “I’ve called the
vote”.
Green MP Steve Abel said the party was against
the bill, and “we voted against it, but Maureen Pugh
wouldn’t let us take the party vote”.
“The abuse of
people in state care and in religious care is absolutely
appalling, unacceptable. The government needs to take
responsibility for its part in failing to protect
people.
“This bill goes some way in the right
direction, but didn’t go enough, and that’s why we, on
balance, decided that it wasn’t a sufficient recognition of
the extraordinary harm caused.”
He said Pugh had been
“a little too keen to not allow us to express our party
vote, and I think she could have … given a little more
leeway at that moment”.
Teanau Tuiono, another Green
MP, said the party had “lots of issues and concerns with it
in terms of the feedback that we’ve had with communities. We
did call for a party vote, but that was sort of taken too
late in the piece as well”.
With the bill having
passed, Tuiono said it was a generational concern and was
“sitting very heavily with many people and
families”.
Labour moved for the party votes to be
recorded properly after Question Time on Thursday.
The
opposition parties voted against
it.
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