The Press
June 19 2003

Ellis list 'sure to pass 100'
by Geoff Collett

An unprecedented display of high-level unease about the Christchurch civic creche case is building.

Organisers of a petition seeking a fresh inquiry into the case expect to easily surpass their target of getting 100 prominent and esteemed New Zealanders to sign the petition by their deadline of Tuesday, and have also succumbed to wider demand from others wanting to add their names to the latest call for a royal commission investigation.

Mounting support for the cause has not yet moved Justice Minister Phil Goff, who opposes such an inquiry.

Mr Goff has centred his argument on the case of Peter Ellis, who was convicted on child sexual abuse charges as a result of the wide-ranging allegations that emerged from the creche in the early 1990s, and spent 6½ years in jail but has consistently maintained his innocence.

Another of those caught up in the case, the then-creche supervisor Gaye Davidson, says the need for an inquiry extends far beyond claims that Mr Ellis was wrongly convicted.

Ms Davidson told The Press yesterday there were far-reaching implications of the creche sex abuse trials which needed to be investigated and put right by an independent inquiry, including the damage it had done to the numerous people caught up in the allegations.

The latest push for such an inquiry is being led by National MPs Don Brash and Katherine Rich, and Dunedin writer Lynley Hood, whose 2001 book A City Possessed is widely credited for the latest revival of interest in the long-running controversy.

The petition with the names of all the lead signatories is to be publicly released at a press conference at Parliament on Tuesday. It has attracted the interest of a wide range of eminent legal figures, along with an array of well-known artists, media, academics, and politicians.

Ms Hood was reluctant to disclose the names on the petition that have not already been publicised. She said the initial target of 100 names would be easily passed. Mrs Rich and Dr Brash had been "inundated" with names, she said.

Wider demand from people wanting to add their names to the petition had led the organisers to agree to more widely circulate forms, and the additional names would be collated and presented with the lead petitioners' names on Tuesday.