Just close it down

Radio NZ reports:

The two men have accused the new chair Judge Coral Shaw of spreading misinformation about the matter, and have accused the commission as a whole of sidelining the survivor group.

Michael Chamberlain of Dunedin and Steve Goodlass of central Otago quit the group within days of each other, three weeks ago.

Mr Goodlass said the incident in which the Commission allowed a convicted paedophile to attend advisory group meetings with abuse survivors without their knowledge amounted to a last straw for him.

The convicted paedophile had more interactions with the group than Judge Shaw let on and it was “deliberately downplayed”, he said.

The offender was at meetings because his partner is on the advisory group.

Mr Goodlass claimed the group had got less support than the judge told the public.

“The support to the survivors group was bogus … I had no offer of support from any of the wellbeing people involved with the commission. And I’ve spoken to one other survivor and he’s in exactly the same boat.”

The advisory group is a world-first for abuse inquiries, but Mr Goodlass described it as an “expensive box-ticking exercise” as its 20 members flew around the country.

As I’ve said before, just close it down. It isn’t going to achieve anything and just seems to be causing more harm.