Final update from Redress Design Group
Design Group Co-chairs Pānui
14 December 2023
This pānui is about the high-level design proposals for the new redress system that was developed by a design group supported by an advisory group drawn from diverse survivor communities.
The job of design and advisory group members is to make proposals for the independent redress system.
This pānui is from Design Group Co-chairs, Dr Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll and Ruth Jones QS.
The job of a Chair is to make sure the job was done.
This pānui has been sent by the Crown Response Unit on behalf of the Design Group Co-chairs.
Kia ora koutou,
Ngā mihi nunui ki a koutou, ngā mōrehu katoa. Some time has passed since our last pānui in September, and in that time a considerable amount has been accomplished.
We are pleased to report that we have submitted our high-level design proposals for the redress system to Minister Nicola Willis. As Minister of the Public Service, Minister Willis is responsible for the Crown Response to the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry.
We were gifted the name Pūtahi te mauri, he wai ora e for the report, by Che Wilson (Ngāti Rangi-Whanganui, Tūwharetoa, Mōkai Pātea, Ngāti Apa, Ngā Rauru). This whakatauakī (proverb) is particularly fitting because it represents what each survivor brings from their life experiences and their journeys so far, and how, through personalised redress, they may be supported to realise vitality and wellbeing, mauri ora (state of flourishing) and wai ora (well-being).
Pūtahi te mauri, he wai ora e
Connected we find vitality
Mihi
We thank all of the State and faith-based survivors, whether tangata whenua (indigenous people), tangata Tiriti (Tiriti people), adopted, disabled people, Pacific peoples, Lake Alice, takatāpui, MVPFAFF, and LGBTIQA+, or rangatahi (youth), and those who are all or many of these identities, who were committed to ensuring that each of these voices were strongly heard. We thank the Advisory Group and additional groups who made such important contributions throughout the high-level design process. We sought to reflect and incorporate all of these views and feedback in our evolving proposals as much as possible.
How we worked
As a Design Group, we met regularly through a series of wānanga (deliberations). Through our wānanga process, we had points of contact/consultation with the Advisory Group and other cohorts to ensure that a diverse range of survivor voices, and their specific redress needs, were amplified.
We were supported in this work by a small secretariat drawn from the Crown Response Unit. We worked on specific aspects of each deliverable and, as we drafted, we shared these to seek feedback and input to test our thinking and to ensure it was as comprehensive as possible. Advisory Group and other group feedback was incorporated in successive iterations of each deliverable, within the timeframe that we had available. It was ultimately our job as the Design Group to determine the final form and detail of our high-level design proposals. That meant we had to make ultimate calls on and take responsibility for these proposals.
We have endeavoured to reflect the urgency of this work through survivor voices within our proposals because we know it is critically important that the Ministers who will make decisions on these proposals see and hear the survivors this is needed for.
We have emphasised the value of investing in redress, the significant flow on benefits of survivors being well supported through restoration and healing, and the need to keep this focus at the centre as the process transitions into detailed design and through to implementation.
The Design Group’s work is now complete. It has been a privilege to have worked with survivors on this mahi and we are both humbled by the hard work and the quality of the high-level proposals.
From next year, you will hear directly from the Crown Response Unit once the Minister has decided on an approach.
Annabel and Ruth
Co-chairs Design Group