The Commune – Episode 10: "The Writing on the Wall"
Podcast: The Commune
Host: Adam Dudding, Stuff Audio
Episode Air Date: June 5, 2022
Series Description: A 12-part documentary on Centrepoint, New Zealand’s infamous free-love commune, focusing not just on the crimes but on understanding why they happened.
Episode Overview
Episode 10, "The Writing on the Wall," delves into the late-period life at Centrepoint following the community's public disgrace, police raids, and convictions for child sex abuse and drug offences. The episode examines two central threads: the persistent culture of abuse and denial within the commune after the initial purges, and the long, difficult journeys of former members – both those who stayed late at Centrepoint and those who managed to leave. The show seeks to expose not just individual crimes, but the persistent dynamics and beliefs that allowed abuse and denial to flourish.
Key Discussion Points & Insights
1. Nate's Story: Abuse, Shame, and Silence
- New Revelations: Building on earlier episodes, Nate, a former Centrepoint child, recounts a lesser-known pattern of predatory older women targeting underage boys in the 1990s, after high-profile male offenders had been removed.
- “They always sort of hung around and watched you and then they'd come and ask you off. And most of the time. Nah, piss off.” – Nate (C) [02:42]
- Manipulation and Coercion: Nate describes being pressured into sex with much older women, typically while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
- “I woke up a few mornings in the bed going, no memory of this instant, like, what the hell am I doing here? ...This one woman would come to the shower afterwards and tell you, you can't wash me off you.” – Nate [03:20]
- Isolation and Shame: The culture not only excused these acts but turned the blame onto the victims, making it even harder for them to speak out.
- “If you didn't enjoy that abuse, there was something wrong with you. You're an attention seeker, you're a liar, you're this, you're that, there's something wrong with you.” – Nate [04:10]
Notable Reflection
- “If we’d been talking, we could have turned around and gone, hey, this is gonna stop. Because we’re not ashamed, because we’re talking about it.” – Nate [04:42]
2. Systemic Denial and Minimization
- Community Response: The show describes an incident in 1996 when a father publicly objected to the abuse of a 12-year-old boy by older women, only to be met with mocking or dismissive responses.
- A woman’s reply on the noticeboard: “If there was no sex allowed between adults and children, wouldn’t be able to fuck you.” [08:10]
- Legal Blind Spots: At that time, New Zealand law barely recognized female-on-male sexual abuse, allowing such crimes to be ignored legally.
- Evidenced by police inaction despite complaints of abuse and later law changes in 2004 that made statutes more gender-neutral. [06:36]
- Narrative Control: The internal Centrepoint newsletter and community discourse frequently downplayed or reframed criminal acts, placing the blame on victims, or projecting resilience and expertise.
- “It is time for us to stop being ashamed of ourselves. ...Time to talk widely, articulately and proudly of our expertise, including what we've learned from hanging in and surviving the stresses of the past few years.” – Centrepoint Pioneer [09:52]
- “Felt damaged. That old Centrepoint instinct to turn any accusation back on the accuser, to blame the victim...” – Adam Dudding (D) [10:28]
3. A Shifting Reality for Later-Stage Centrepoint Kids
- The 'Late Cohort': Research shows children who lived at Centrepoint post-raids often had more benign or even positive memories.
- “We heard about a Centrepoint where...the kids just got on with hanging out and having fun.” – Adam Dudding [15:05]
- Julian’s Perspective: Julian, who was a child in the 1990s at Centrepoint, describes a mostly positive, if permissive, environment—though still marked by inappropriate adult behavior.
- “When I was about 14, 15, my Christmas present was a tab of LSD.” – Julian (F) [18:57]
- “I look back at it now and it’s straight-up abusive. Yeah, it was terribly neglectful.” – Julian [19:39]
- Contrast to Earlier Era: Julian was not aware of the pervasive abuse from earlier years and considered Potter largely irrelevant.
4. Life After Centrepoint: Survivor Stories
- Barry’s Journey: Barry, a founding member and survivor, details her struggle to separate from the community for her own and her daughter’s sake.
- “You don’t get to leave a cult as simply as that.” – Barry (A) [20:51]
- Finding that her ex-husband, a convicted offender, returned to Centrepoint and had access to their daughter made her question her choices and priorities urgently. [21:16]
- Post-Commune Recovery: Barry describes the intellectual and emotional work necessary to rebuild identity after cult life, including academic study of cult psychology.
- “It was just a journey, really, a personal journey for me as well. Just starting to see how it worked and that it wasn’t just Centrepoint.” – Barry [22:35]
- Hard-Won Insights: She speaks of reading Janja Lalich’s book on cults, which became a guidepost for former members.
- “This book got passed around ... like the bible of explaining what we’ve been through.” – Barry [23:19]
Difficult Healing
- Barry affirms that even understanding the psychology doesn’t fix relationships or erase pain, but “it does help deal with the demons in the night.” [26:29]
5. Ongoing Threat & Push for Closure
- Release of convicted offenders back to the community deeply unsettled ex-members, with little apparent oversight or concern from authorities.
- “They were all coming back to the community and they’d all got out early because, you know, they're nice middle class guys and white and they all behaved well and so they all got out on good behaviour...” – Barry [27:04]
- Barry describes an epiphany where the burden to act—to truly ‘close down’ the harmful Centrepoint machine—fell unexpectedly on her.
- “This shouldn’t be happening. ... And I actually heard an auditory voice go, you close it down. You close it down.” – Barry [28:16]
Memorable Quotes & Moments
-
On the culture of silence and shame:
“You’re at a place where we're supposed to tell everybody what's ... but you know, you don't tell anybody. ... If you didn't enjoy that abuse, there was something wrong with you.” – Nate [03:48] -
On legal and social failure:
“Apparently in that time, a male couldn't be assaulted by a woman legally. And even now we couldn't bring charges because at that time it wasn't legal, which is crazy.” – Nate [06:28] -
On reframing abuse as expertise:
“It is time for us to stop being ashamed of ourselves. … Time to reframe our recent history. Time to talk widely, articulately, and proudly of our expertise...” – Centrepoint Pioneer [09:52] -
On the challenge of leaving a cult:
“Once you've been there, where do you go next?” – Adam Dudding [24:03]
“It's such a long process of, who am I now? Who do I want to be? Who have I been? How can I face people? Do I tell people? Do I not tell people?” – Barry [24:38] -
On realizing personal agency:
“Someone should close this down. ... I actually heard an auditory voice go, you close it down. You close it down.” – Barry [28:16]
Important Timestamps
- 00:51 – 01:09: Trigger warning for strong language, drug use, suicide, sexual abuse.
- 01:27 – 06:36: Nate’s story of abuse by older women, community response, and legal inaction.
- 06:36 – 08:14: The noticeboard “writing on the wall” incident and cultural minimization of abuse.
- 08:45 – 10:28: Centrepoint newsletters: downplaying crimes, reframing history, blaming victims.
- 13:52 – 15:53: The “late cohort” – more positive memories of Centrepoint post-raids.
- 16:26 – 19:39: Julian’s experience: relatively benign memories but a lens of adult permissiveness and neglect.
- 20:46 – 27:56: Barry's journey of leaving, parenthood, post-cult recovery, and pushback against community cover-ups.
- 28:16 – 28:41: Barry’s epiphany and resolve to confront Centrepoint’s ongoing threat.
- 24:38 – 25:31: The complex process of identity rebuilding after leaving a cult.
Tone and Style
The episode maintains a careful, respectful, but unflinching tone. Personal narratives are shared with candour and vulnerability, while the hosts provide context and critical analysis. The language is direct, often raw, and avoids sensationalism – focusing instead on survivors’ voices, psychological legacies, and the persistent need for truth and reckoning.
Conclusion
“The Writing on the Wall” lays bare the layered, enduring harm of Centrepoint’s culture and the slow, personal, and societal recovery that can follow. It highlights the persistent cognitive and legal failures that allowed cycles of abuse to continue, as well as the resilience and self-reflection needed to escape and heal. The episode ends with former members still wrestling with their pasts, the influence of the commune, and the challenge of closing a painful chapter for good.