A long list of ministers and leaders found at fault for allowing abuse in care

The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care finds that a successive list of senior ministers and public servants were at fault for allowing, or failing to stop, an epidemic of abuse in foster homes, borstals, boot camps and other state-run institutions. 

The list of people found at fault includes successive ministers of education, health and social development, commissioners of police, directors-general of health, directors of mental health and the chief executives of several ministries. The Royal Commission report does not list individual names of people at fault, only the job titles.

The Spinoff has been able to verify 112 people who served in those roles from 1950 to 1999. Much of the harm started before 1950 and has continued to present day, but this list is limited to those years to match the Royal Commission’s period of inquiry. 

These individuals were found to have enabled the abuse through a range of actions, including: implementing harmful policies, failing to investigate abuse, failing to properly train staff, failing to keep children safe, illegally detaining young people, ignoring the perspectives of communities affected, contributing to abusive environments, upholding institutional and structural racism, failing to address racist policies, alienating Māori from their whānau and failing to provide redress for survivors. 

Obviously, these politicians and public servants were not individuals who carried out most of the day-to-day physical, sexual, mental and emotional abuse on thousands of vulnerable young people. Nor were they the only people in positions of power who contributed to harm. But as the most senior leaders of powerful government entities, they held the ultimate responsibility.

The list of people found at fault:

Successive ministers of social development (and previous equivalent roles, including minister for social welfare and minister for social security)

• Jack Watts
• William Bodkin 
• Eric Halstead
• Dean Eyre
• Geoff Gerard
• Hilda Ross
• Mabel Howard
• Phil Connolly 
• Norman Shelton
• Don McKay 
• Lance Adams-Schneider
• Norman King
• Bert Walker
• George Gair
• Venn Young 
• Ann Hercus
• Michael Cullen
• Jenny Shipley 
• Peter Gresham
• Roger Sowry
• Steve Maharey

Successive chief executives of the ministry for social development (and previous equivalent roles, including director-general of social welfare and superintendent of the child welfare division of the Department of Education)

• Charles Peek
• Lewis Anderson
• Ian Mackay 
• SJ Callaghan
• John Grant 
• Andy Kirkland
• Margaret Bazley

Successive ministers of health 

• Jack Watts
• Jack Marshall
• Ralph Hanan
• Rex Mason
• Norman Shelton
• Don McKay
• Lance Adams-Schneider
• Bob Tizard
• Tom McGuigan
• Frank Gill
• George Gair
• Aussie Malcolm
• Michael Bassett
• David Caygill
• Helen Clark 
• Simon Upton 
• Bill Birch
• Jenny Shipley  
• Bill English 
• Wyatt Creech
• Annette King

Successive directors-general of health 

• TR Ritchie
• John Cairney
• Harold Turbott
• Douglas Kennedy
• Ron Barker
• George Salmond
• Chris Lovelace
• Karen Poutasi

Successive directors of mental health at the Ministry of Health (and previous equivalent roles, including director of mental hygiene).

• Ronald Lewis 
• Geoffrey Blake-Palmer
• Stanley Mirams 
• Basil James
• Thakshan Fernando 
• Janice Wilson 

Successive ministers of education 

• Ronald Algie
• Philip Skoglund
• Blair Tennent
• Arthur Kinsella
• Brian Talboys
• Lorrie Pickering
• Phil Amos
• Les Gandar
• Merv Wellington
• Russell Marshall
• David Lange
• Geoffrey Palmer
• Phil Goff
• Lockwood Smith 
• Wyatt Creech
• Nick Smith 
• Trevor Mallard

Successive chief executives of the Ministry of Education (and previous equivalent roles, including director-general of education and secretary of education). 

• Charles Edward Beeby
• Arnold Campbell 
• Keith Sheen
• Ned Dobbs 
• Bill Renwick
• Maris O’Rourke 
• Howard Fancy 

Successive commissioners of police

• James Cummings
• Bruce Young
• Eric Compton 
• Samuel Barnett
• Willis Spencer Brown
• Leslie Spencer
• Colin Urquhart
• Angus Sharp
• Ken Burnside
• Bob Walton 
• Ken Thompson
• Malcolm Churches
• John Jamieson 
• Richard Macdonald
• Peter Doone

Successive public service commissioners (and previous equivalent roles, including state services commissioner)

• Dick Campbell
• George Bolt
• Leonard Atkinson
• Adrian Rodda
• Ian Lythgoe
• Robin Williams
• Mervyn Probine
• Roderick Deane
• Don Hunn
• Michael Wintringham 

The report also finds that successive governments, including ministers, were at fault. There were 224 people who served as cabinet ministers between 1950 and 1999 (this number includes people who were ministers in multiple governments). 

Churches found to be at fault for abuse in care

The Royal Commission also found fault with six churches and their related entities. The report names the institutions as a whole, rather than specific roles or job titles.

• The Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and related Catholic entities
• The Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and Polynesia 
• The Methodist Church of New Zealand
• Gloriavale Christian Community
• The Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand
• The Salvation Army New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa Territory 

The list of people who should apologise

The Royal Commission recommended that public acknowledgements and apologies for historical abuse and neglect be made by the most senior leaders of a list of relevant churches, government agencies and professional organisations. 

These are people who currently hold those roles: 

• Christopher Luxon, prime minister of New Zealand
• Pope Francis, bishop of Rome, head of the Catholic church
• Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, head of the Anglican church
• Bishop Jong Cheon Park, president of the World Methodist Council
• Lyndon Buckingham, general of the Salvation Army
• Howard Temple, overseeing shepherd, Gloriavale Christian Community
• The governing body of Jehovah’s Witnesses: Kenneth Cook Jr, Gage Fleegle, Samuel Herd, Geoffrey Jackson, Mark Lett, Gerrit Lösch, Douglas Sanderson, David Splane, and Jeffrey Winder.
• The Right Rev Rose Luxford of Oamaru, the moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand
• Pam Elgar, chief executive, Presbyterian Support Northern
• Sanja Majstorović, chief executive, Presbyterian Support East Coast
• Muhammad Naseem (Joe) Asghar, chief executive, Presbyterian Support Central
• Barry Helem and Kim Manahi, co-chief executives, Presbyterian Support Upper South Island
• Carolyn Cooper, chief executive, Presbyterian Support South Canterbury
• Jo O’Neill, chief executive, Presbyterian Support Otago
• Matt Russell, chief executive, Presbyterian Support Southland
• Heather Baggott, acting public service commissioner
• Una Jagose, solicitor-general
• Andrew Coster, commissioner of police
• Chappie Te Kani, chief executive, Oranga Tamariki
• Debbie Power, chief executive, Ministry of Social Development
• Diana Sarfati, chief executive, Ministry of Health
• Iona Holsted, chief executive, Ministry of Education
• Sharon McGowan, chief executive, Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists
• Joan Simeon, chief executive, Medical Council of New Zealand
• Sharyn Roberts, president, Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers
• Anne Daniels, president, New Zealand Nurses Association
• Lesley Hoskin, chief executive, Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand
• Andrea Midgen, chief executive, Blind Low Vision NZ
• Ralph Jones, chief executive, IHC