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Allegations of Abuse
in Institutions |
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The release of the report into
abuses at state-run psychiatric institutions is a timely reminder that the
Government has still not delivered justice for claimants in the Lake Alice
Inquiry, says National Party Associate Health spokesman (Mental Health)
Jonathan Coleman. "The Labour Cabinet secretly
withheld $35,000 in compensation that Sir Rodney Gallen awarded a patient
following the Lake Alice Inquiry. That was challenged in the High Court. The
Government lost, and subsequently decided not to appeal the decision. "As a result of that
precedent, in the High Court there are 87 other second-round claimants who
are still awaiting $3 million that this Government decided to take from them.
"That is money that
rightfully belongs to a vulnerable group of people who had their lives ruined
because of abuse at the hands of the state. "Rather than nodding gravely
at this latest damning report, the Attorney-General needs to live up to his
professed belief in social justice and write out the cheques that the High
Court determined these people are due."
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