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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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It wasn't that long ago
-- the 1970s and the 1980s, apparently -- when all manner of abuses were said
to be part of life for cadets at Waiouru army camp, which makes it all the
more noteworthy that some people are now talking of things like the
"social attitudes of the time" and how what may or may not have
occurred there ought to be judged against such attitudes. Have social
attitudes changed so much since then? And if they have, have they changed for
the better or are they just different? You don't have to be a rocket
scientist to figure that the military is something of a closed society and
also that it has its own peculiar way of doing many things. But by the same
token New Zealand is a small society, the Army doesn't operate on some other
planet, and who does what with whom invariably gets around, later if not
sooner. So that then is one of
the many obscurities surrounding the current furore, which has seen a
trickle-turned-into-a-torrent of claims made about maltreatment and abuse of
cadet soldiers, some of which could amount to criminal offending. If all
these terrible things were happening, or if even only some of them were, how
come nothing much seems to have surfaced until now? Certainly there has been
more than one graphic account of behaviour which cannot be condoned in any
shape or form, and for which the description bullying is totally inadequate.
Can that mean then that the internal processes and procedures at the camp
were so useless that complaints were either ignored or abuse victims knew
better than to even try to get a hearing? Clearly an inquiry --
and it seems inevitable that there will be one, with mention already made by
Defence Minister Mark Burton of an "independent assessor" -- will
need to tread carefully, and to have credibility, those chosen to run it will
have to be of high legal standing with demonstrable experience in such
situations. Obviously the terms of reference will also be crucial to the
outcome, for at the outset the purpose of any inquiry needs to be made clear.
There is potential for
both individuals and the Army as a whole to be damaged, and damaged severely,
so long as allegations are made which remain untested and unexamined. The
where-there's-smoke-there's -fire syndrome can create havoc, as can the
attitude that whatever happens, it is going to be a whitewash anyway. For
example, who could believe that widespread abuse was taking place without
higher authority having at least an inkling of what was occurring? And if
they knew, or suspected, what did they do? There are, for the moment, many
more questions than there are answers. The bottom line is that natural
justice must be allowed to prevail -- that is, all affected people get to
have their say, and both accused and accusers have their day in order that
some final judgments can be arrived at which make sense. One more thing: One
wonders whether we ought to abandon all hope and find some other way of
getting to and from Hawke's Bay as the Manawatu Gorge is closed by yet
another slip -- and it wasn't even raining this time. It's been a terrible
year for the Gorge, and for those whose livelihoods have been tested by the
continual closures, but there seems to be little alternative at the present
time to once more shovelling up the mess and carrying on -- while hoping
nobody is going past when next time the earth moves in the area, as it surely
will. |
