WELLINGTON — New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon delivered a formal and unreserved apology in Parliament on Tuesday, expressing remorse for the widespread abuse, torture, and neglect suffered by hundreds of thousands of children and vulnerable adults in state care.
“It was horrific. It was heartbreaking. It was wrong. And it should never have happened,” Luxon stated, addressing lawmakers and a public gallery filled with survivors of the abuse.
A comprehensive report released in July, concluding the largest inquiry ever conducted in New Zealand, revealed that an estimated 200,000 individuals in state, foster, and faith-based care endured unimaginable abuse over a span of seven decades. These victims were disproportionately Māori, New Zealand’s Indigenous population.
“For many of you it changed the course of your life, and for that, the government must take responsibility,” Luxon acknowledged, extending the apology to encompass past governments as well.
In foster and church care, as well as in state-run institutions, including hospitals and residential schools, vulnerable individuals were subjected to horrific abuse and neglect, and in some cases, torture, despite being entitled to safety, respect, dignity, and compassion.
The findings of the six-year investigation, believed to be the most comprehensive of its kind globally, were deemed a “national disgrace” by the inquiry’s report. New Zealand’s investigation followed two decades of similar inquiries around the world as nations grapple with the consequences of authorities’ transgressions against children removed from their families and placed in care.
Between 1950 and 2019, nearly a third of the 650,000 children and vulnerable adults entrusted to New Zealand’s state, foster, and church care systems, in a country with a current population of 5 million, experienced physical, sexual, verbal, or psychological abuse. Many more were exploited or neglected.
“We will never know that true number,” Chris Hipkins, the leader of the opposition, remarked in Parliament. “Many people entering into state and faith-based institutions were undocumented. Records were incomplete, they’ve gone missing, and in some cases, yes, they were deliberately destroyed.”
In response to the inquiry’s findings, the New Zealand government formally acknowledged, for the first time, that the historical treatment of certain children in a notorious state-run hospital constituted torture—a claim that prior administrations had repeatedly rejected.
“I am deeply sorry that New Zealand did not do better by you. I am sorry you were not believed when you came forward to report your abuse,” Luxon expressed. “I am sorry that many abusers were not made to face justice which meant that other people experienced abuse that could have been prevented.”
Luxon confirmed that his government was actively addressing 28 of the inquiry’s 138 recommendations. However, concrete details regarding financial redress, a critical element emphasized by the inquiry since 2021 and potentially amounting to billions of dollars, remained unavailable.
Luxon faced criticism from survivors and advocates earlier on Tuesday for failing to disclose compensation plans alongside the apology. He informed Parliament that a unified redress system would be established in 2025.
However, he refrained from disclosing the anticipated government payout amount.
“There will be a big bill, but it’s nothing compared to the debt we owe those survivors and it must not be the reason for any further delay,” Hipkins, the opposition leader, asserted.
Survivors began arriving at Parliament hours before the apology, having secured seats in the public gallery, which accommodates approximately 200 people, through a lottery. Some survivors expressed reluctance to accept the state’s apology, citing their belief that the extent of the horrors had yet to be fully grasped by lawmakers and public officials.
During an apology offered by the country’s solicitor-general, the jeering from the audience was so intense that her speech was rendered inaudible. Others called out or left the room in tears while senior public servants representing relevant health and welfare agencies addressed the gathering before Luxon’s remarks.
Survivors invited to deliver speeches were required to do so prior to Luxon’s apology, rather than in response to it, as noted by Tu Chapman, one of the speakers.
“Right now I feel alone and in utter despair at the way in which this government has undertaken the task of acknowledging all survivors,” she shared with the audience at Parliament.
The abuse, according to Keith Wiffin, a survivor of abuse at a notorious state-run boys’ home, “ripped families and communities apart, trapping many into a life of prison, incarceration, leaving many uneducated.” “It has tarred our international reputation as an upholder of human rights, something this nation likes to dine out on.”
The inquiry’s recommendations included seeking apologies from state and church leaders, including Pope Francis. It also advocated for the establishment of offices to prosecute abusers and enact redress, renaming streets and monuments dedicated to abusers, reforming civil and criminal law, overhauling the child welfare system, and conducting searches for unmarked graves at psychiatric facilities.
The inquiry’s authors were highly critical of the fact that the abuse and the identities of many abusers were known about for years, with no action taken to stop it.
“This has meant you have had to re-live your trauma over and over again,” Luxon acknowledged. “Agencies should have done better and must commit to doing so in the future.”
He declined to concede that public officials or ministers in his current government who had previously denied the widespread nature of state abuse during their tenure in previous administrations should be dismissed. Luxon has also dismissed suggestions by survivors that policies he has implemented, such as crackdowns on gangs and the creation of military-style boot camps for young offenders, which disproportionately impact Māori, undermine his government’s expression of regret regarding the abuse.
Māori are overrepresented in prisons and gangs. In 2023, 68% of children in state care were Māori, although they make up less than 20% of New Zealand’s population.
“It’s not enough to say sorry,” said Fa’afete Taito, a survivor of violent abuse at another state-run home and a former gang member. “It’s what you do to heal the wounds of your actions and make sure it never happens again that really counts.”