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Presentation starts at 00:00:25

As a freelance investigative journalist and photographer, and with lived experience of state intervention having been adopted and raised outside of his natural whānau, Mr Smale (Ngāti Porou, Ngā Puhi, Whakatohea) has covered the stories of children in state custody as a Māori social issue. Since 2016 Mr Smale has collected stories from survivors and published stories in long-form articles, as well as analysis of various aspects. He was working at the time of the hearing on a documentary series on the subject and is a PhD candidate in history, researching the origins and impacts on Māori. Mr Smale reflected on his work to date and the themes arising from the voices of survivors and expert and primary evidence obtained from his investigations, focussing on the state’s behaviour, international comparisons for indigenous children in state custody, and the impact on Māori in particular.