Survivors of large-scale disasters like Pike River or the Christchurch terror attacks should get a better response and more support from authorities, under new standards.
Andrew Little. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
A report setting up the new "Working with Survivors" standards was launched at Parliament today, co-authored by families affected by the Pike River mine explosion, the Aramoana massacre, the Cave Creek collapse, the CTV building in the Christchurch earthquakes, the 15 March terror attack, the Whakaari/White Island eruption, and forestry deaths.
The Public Service Commission also consulted with agencies including police and Victim Support.
Pike River families told RNZ ahead of the launch the standards had been a long time coming, and would ensure survivors and families had the support they needed when a tragedy happened.
Sonya Rockhouse, whose 21-year-old son died in the mine, said people suffering from a catastrophe were too often disempowered by government agencies' responses.
Sonya Rockhouse speaks at the launch of the Working with Survivors standards. Photo: RNZ / Anneke Smith
The new standards set out requirements for the public service to:
- Empower survivors and support those who may have lost agency and power, and whose decision-making may be compromised
- Be upfront and provide open and honest information about what happened
- Work together across agencies to ensure survivors get clear messages and equitable support
Pike River widow Anna Osborne explained how in their case, all three of those principles had been failed, and said the new standards were about making sure those mistakes would not be made again.
"Empowerment is about you working with us, not assuming you know best. In the aftermath of the explosion the people running things or claiming to be running things were so involved in their response that the families whose lives had just been ripped apart ... were given nothing."
"We were sidelined as grieving families acting emotionally. Our grief was used to marginalise us, that's why the Pike River management were able to tell so many lies to New Zealand in the first few days and weeks of the response."
She said the authorities had also lied to the families about the prospect of the miners being returned to them alive.
"It seems ridiculous that people would lie to survivors of tragedy, but in that moment when the truth is going to cause a huge outburst of grief it's harder to be upfront than you might think," she said.
"Vulnerable families were lied to, to try and ease the pain I guess - there is no other explanation for it ... it would have hurt ot have been told on the day of the first explosion that our men were most likely dead, but knowing that we were lied to has hurt us the most.
"These lies took away any chance for them to ever know what truly happened. Even now they cannot trust the recovery agency, the police, the experts and because of this they cannot heal."
She said the third standard was a simple ask: "public service get your act together".
"When something like Pike River happens we end up dealing with so many agencies - ACC, MSD, Mines Rescue, Worksafe, Police, DPMC, you name it - and so often they would all ask the same questions over and over again. They would tell a different story about what could be done; they passed our questions off to some other agency.
"When I just lost my husband in a mine explosion I don't care about departmental demarcation ... it's not my job to understand your organisational chart, it's your job to help me and to have planned ahead to make sure you know what to do."
Pike River Re-entry Minister Andrew Little said such events were "not pages in our history books".
"They are real stories of loss for Kiwi families and survivors. They are calls for us to learn the lessons and do what we can to prevent future disasters and better support survivors when they need it most," he said.
He acknowledged the pain some of the responses had led to for those already most affected by the disasters.
"Sometimes how those processes have been carried out have left survivors feeling disempowered, feeling shut out, and feeling, even, disregarded and actually that's not what our public servants want to or try to do."
He said Pike River families felt let down by the state, and the new expectations would aim to ensure survivors were empowered, and the agencies dealing with them were upfront and worked for the benefit of current and future survivors.
The standards would need continual improvement and would be updated over time, Little said.