New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon promised reforms after a public enquiry revealed that around 200,000 children, young people, and vulnerable adults had been abused in state and religious institutions over the past 70 years.
This is a dark and sorrowful day in New Zealand’s history as a society and as a state, we should have done better, and I am determined that we will do so.
A formal apology would follow on 12 November, Luxon added.
The report found that nearly one in three children and vulnerable adults in care between 1950 and 2019 experienced some form of abuse. The revelation could lead to billions of dollars in new compensation claims against the government.
Survivors and their supporters filled the public gallery of the country’s parliament as the report was debated, with more people watching from a private room. After Luxon spoke, comparing child abuse to torture at one state-run childcare facility on Lake Alice, many people stood up and sang an Indigenous Māori song about love and unity.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry report involved more than 2,300 survivors of abuse in New Zealand, which has a population of 5.3 million. The enquiry detailed a range of abuses in state and religious care, including rape, sterilisation, and electrocution, which peaked in the 1970s.
It is a national disgrace that hundreds of thousands of children, young people and adults were abused and neglected in the care of the State and faith-based institutions.
Report impact
It made 138 recommendations, including calling for a public apology from the New Zealand government, as well as from the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, heads of the Catholic and Anglican churches respectively, who have previously condemned child abuse. In a statement, the Catholic Church in New Zealand says it is scrutinising the report.
We will ensure that action follows our review of the inquiry’s findings.
At the same time, the Anglican Church in New Zealand stated:
We acknowledge and take full responsibility for our failures to provide the safe, caring and nurturing environment those who have been in our care had a right to expect and to receive.
The report calculated that the average cost of living for a survivor in 2020 was estimated at about NZ$857,000 (US$511,200.50) per person. However, Luxon stated that the total compensation owed to survivors could run into billions of dollars.
We’re opening up the redress conversations and we’re going through that work with survivor groups.
The report also calls on the government to establish a Care Safe Agency responsible for oversight of the industry, and for new legislation to include mandatory reporting of suspected abuse, including confessions made during religious observance.
