Faith-based Redress hearing – 15 to 29 March in Auckland

15 March is the start date for the second Faith-based Redress hearing taking place in our Auckland office.  The hearing will go ahead either at Level 1 or Level 2. Planning is underway for either of these possibilities.

• Under Level 1 the public can attend and hygiene protocols will be in place. Further information is outlined below. (Please note there are still health and safety guidelines, not related to COVID that might limit numbers of people attending).
• Under Level 2 the hearing will go ahead and due to social distancing guidelines members of the public cannot attend.

While Auckland is currently in Level 2, the Government has signalled a move to Level 1 from this weekend, as long as there are no further community clusters.  This decision will be made on Friday.  Please check our website www.abuseincare.org.nz or our Facebook page on Friday afternoon for the latest information.

The focus of this hearing will be evidence on redress processes from witnesses called on behalf of the Catholic Church in Aotearoa New Zealand, Anglican Church in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Salvation Army.  Survivors will not give evidence at this hearing – as survivor evidence was the focus of the first faith-based hearing late last year. There is more information about the hearing here.

The hearing will be live streamed on our website: www.abuseincare.org.nz  and witness statements will be available after witnesses appear. Generally, transcripts and videos of witness evidence will be published on our website within a few days of witnesses appearing.

More information about the scope of this hearing is here.

We appreciate the content of the hearing might be confronting. If you need support, please call our Contact Centre on 0800 222 727 (weekdays 8am-6pm NZT) who can direct you to wellbeing support if needed.

How to access the Live Stream from 15 March on our website:

1. Go to the Royal Commission website home page: www.abuseincare.org.nz
2. Scroll to Faith-based Redress Phase 2 Hearing
3. Click on Learn more button. This will take you the Live Stream of the hearing.

Further down on this page is the summary of witnesses for this hearing. After they have given their evidence at the hearing, the witness’ evidence: transcripts, videos and statements, will be published on the website and you will find that by clicking on their name in the summary of witnesses.

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COVID-19 Alert levels for hearings

We are closely following the situation with alert levels with the Faith-based Redress public hearing (phase two) due to start on 15 March in Auckland, and we will follow the government’s COVID-19 requirements so that attendees and our staff are safe.  This is how hearings will run at different alert levels:

COVID-19 ALERT LEVEL 1

• No limitations on attendees
• All attendees need to sign in by COVID-19 Tracer QR Code or register
• Health & Safety Officer will clean in the breaks and at lunch time and assist with physical distancing protocols
• Hygiene protocols in place, e.g. hand sanitiser. Masks and gloves will be available.

COVID-19 ALERT LEVEL 2       Hearing can go ahead with the following restrictions:

• No public attendance
• Limited number of invitees/core participants/stakeholders can attend
• Limited attendance by media
• All attendees need to sign in by COVID-19 Tracer QR Code or register and complete a temperature check
• Hygiene and social distancing protocols apply. Masks and gloves will be available.
• Health & Safety Officer will clean in the breaks and at lunch time and assist with physical distancing protocols.

COVID-19 ALERT LEVEL 3       No hearing

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Hearing dates confirmed up until early 2022

Here are the recently confirmed dates for further public hearings:

The Pacific and Māori hearings will address themes arising from both state and faith abuse.

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Taking part

Most survivors and others who wish to participate in the Inquiry will choose to share their experiences and views about how things should change by providing a formal witness statement or written account, or by attending a private session.

Some will also want to participate as a witness in one of the public hearings that will be held over the course of the Inquiry.

It will not be possible for the thousands of survivors and other witnesses who contact the Royal Commission over the next few years to be witnesses at public hearings. To participate, a witness must first give a formal witness statement. Then, the Inquiry will ask some of the witnesses who have given a witness statement to also give their evidence about their experiences to the Commissioners in a public hearing. If you have any questions about this to get in touch with our Contact Centre on 0800 222 727 (weekdays 8am-6pm NZT).