Ms Neta Kerepeti, of Whangārei, KSM for services to survivors of abuse in care
Neta Kerepeti (Te Rarawa, Ngāpuhi, Ngātiwai, Ngāti Mutunga) has worked with survivors of abuse in care to focus on their healing journeys, utilising the arts, toi Māori, and other creative pathways to generate awareness of survivor voices and stories. She was previously co-chair of Te Roopū Toiora Trust, a national collective of survivors of abuse in faith and state-based care, working to raise awareness of the impact of their experiences on their whānau, their communities, and themselves. Through her time with Te Roopū Toiora Trust where she remains a Trustee, she has provided support to survivors of abuse through creative means. She has participated with the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care Institutions, helping make recommendations to the inquiry by drawing on her experience of abuse in care, and as a social worker with the former Child, Youth, and Family Services agency. More recently, Ms Kerepeti has also worked alongside the Crown Response Unit as Chair of the Taonga Selection Panel, leading a group of survivor creatives to select and guide the design of a taonga, created by survivors, to honour survivors of abuse in care.