The Gloriavale Christian Community will appear for the first time at the Abuse in Care inquiry starting this morning in Auckland.
The overseeing shepherd of Gloriavale Howard Temple and its school principal Rachel Steadfast will be questioned. Photo: Google Maps
It is the last public hearing for the Royal Commission, which started its work in 2019.
It is looking into abuse in care within state and faith-based institutions between 1950 and 1999.
The hearing will open with statements from core participants and individuals and groups granted leave to appear.
This afternoon, the overseeing shepherd of Gloriavale, Howard Temple, and its school principal, Rachel Steadfast, will speak and be questioned.
They, along with other church and faith-based groups will be asked for their response to evidence given to the inquiry from survivors of abuse and neglect, particularly from children, young people and vulnerable adults.
The commission's head of reports, Rebecca Harvey-Lane, said all will be questioned on systemic issues, and in some cases, on specific survivor evidence, for their response.
''This will include how care systems were monitored, the handling of complaints, the nature and extent of the abuse, to what extent their care met the needs of Māori, Pacific and disabled people, as well as people with mental health conditions.
''In addition we will also be speaking to them on forward looking questions and questions on solutions for change.''
Like Gloriavale Christian Community, the Presbyterian and Methodist churches will also be appearing before the inquiry for the first time.
''We also have specific schools where the representatives will be giving evidence and these in particular around (Auckland's) Dilworth School and Wesley College, who have not given evidence in previous hearings as well. So we expect to have real focus on these new institutions.''
Harvey-Lane said the inquiry's focus would differ from previous hearings.
''In the past the focus has been on redress and that was the predominant hearings that were held last year. That was just around responses to claims, so we will really looking to explore the care systems themselves, including the monitoring and oversight of those care systems and the nature and extent of abuse that happened within those care settings.''
Frances Tagaloa is a survivor of sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.
She believes the hearing will reveal churches have failed to act and take responsibility for abuse.
''They have failed to protect those that they have cared for. They have failed survivors who have sought help after suffering the trauma of abuse. I think we will also hear that they have not put survivors first, ahead of the perpetrators, or have they put them ahead of their own interests.''
She said churches had enabled a culture of tolerance and silence.
''What I would really love to see is for all of the churches to be brave enough to express their support for the recommendations of the Royal Commission of Inquiry. Some churches we have heard that, but I have yet to hear that from the Catholic Church.''
One group that will not be at the hearing is the Network for Survivors of Abuse in faith-based institutions.
It believes there is nothing to be gained from attending, because everything has already been said at previous hearings and in media coverage.
Survivors of Abuse spokesperson Liz Tonks said survivors were now more interested getting the government to follow through on redress and safeguarding others from abuse.
''We don't think it will add sufficiently to what survivors already know, and what is known that is going to change, what is needed, which is redress. They urgently need it. They are dying without it and in a state of trauma and living in deprivation.''
Her group needed to focus its limited resources on supporting its survivors, Tonks said.
The hearing would not address the accountability of the Crown which failed in its oversight, not only of state-run institutions, but also faith-based institutions, where the majority of abuse cases occurred and where many survivors, who were in the direct care of the state were abused, she said.
The Royal Commission will deliver its final report to the government in June 2023.
