“You can’t just have a one off meeting,” she said. She says around 20 people will speak, have testimony read aloud or appear via video conference during the hearing, and are either survivors themselves or witnesses to abuse. Each day will see two or three people taking to the front of the fale to share their story.
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The Pasifika focused hearings of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into abuse in state care will be held at the Fale o Samoa in Māngere. “The public hearing is just one part of the wider Pacific investigation, this is a start. There are also private sessions for survivors, written statements we’ve received, we’re looking at more fono-style talanoa too.”