The medical profession will be aware of the Lake Alice child and adolescent health unit, operating in the 1970s under Dr Selwyn Leeks, a psychiatrist.

Many of us have heard of the torture that he inflicted on the children. These included interventions as punishment, such as administering ECT without anaesthetic, solitary confinement and administering paraldehyde. The experiences of these children are detailed in the Beautiful Children Report, published in 2023. These regimes were wrong, outside the norms of the day and resulted in a legacy of intergenerational harm spanning 50 years.

It is with deep whakamā that I acknowledge that MCNZ have had a significant role in allowing ongoing harm to the children of Lake Alice. When survivors of Lake Alice first came forward to report Dr Leeks, they were not listened to; we foregrounded the doctor’s explanation of events and we failed to store records pertaining to Dr Leeks. Dr Leeks was issued a certificate of good standing when he left New Zealand in the 1980s.

Subsequently, when we became aware of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in 2021, we continued to perpetuate harm by taking a defensive position and not offering a satisfactory apology or looking at making amends.

I am deeply and unreservedly sorry for the inaction and actions of MCNZ. We failed to protect the children of Lake Alice, we failed to hold Dr Leeks to account for the horrific abuse and torture he committed, and we undermined the expectations of the public to be listened to by us, the regulator of medical professionals.

I would also like to address perceptions that the abuse was historic, and therefore not related to the modern-day council. This is not our position. These actions and inactions are part of the whakapapa of this organisation. We must take responsibility for those failures, and for the impact of those failures, in order for us to fulfil our fundamental role of protecting the public. Dr Leeks IS part of our whakapapa, and the decisions of the day ARE part of our heritage.

Survivors of Lake Alice are in our health system. Some of them are declining healthcare or have additional barriers to accessing healthcare because of their abuse. The responsibility for facilitating their healthcare lies with us as a system, rather than on them as survivors of abuse in care. This will be a time of reflection and action to remove barriers for survivors. 

Our pathway now is in making amends for the survivors of Lake Alice. Making amends starts with listening. Making amends is apologising for the harm that we have caused. Making amends includes changes to our processes to make sure that the experiences of patients and whānau are at the centre of our processes. Making amends is understanding that we did not do right by survivors in the past, but we have the opportunity to try to do right by them now. It is ensuring that the voices of the children of Lake Alice are not forgotten, lest we repeat the mistakes of the past.

Nō reira, kia haere haumaru tonu koutou i ō koutou mahi, i ō koutou kāinga. Kia manawanui.

Dr Rachelle Love
Tumuaki