WELLINGTON: New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has expressed regret at a public inquiry which found that some 200,000 children, young people and vulnerable adults were abused in state and religious institutions over the past 70 years.
Nearly one in three children and vulnerable adults in care between 1950 and 2019 suffered some form of abuse, according to Wednesday's report, a finding that could leave the government facing billions of dollars in new compensation claims.
“This is a dark and sad 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,” Luxon told a news conference.
The official apology will be issued on November 12, he added.
The Royal Commission of Inquiry report focused on more than 2,300 survivors of abuse in New Zealand, which has a population of 5.3 million. The inquiry detailed a range of abuses in state and religious care, including rape, sterilisation and electric shocks, which peaked in the 1970s.
The report found that people from the indigenous Maori community were especially vulnerable to abuse, as were those with mental or physical disabilities.
Civil and religious leaders struggled to cover up abuse by moving abusers elsewhere and denying guilt, and many victims died before seeing justice, the report added.
“It is a national disgrace that hundreds of thousands of children, young people and adults have been abused and abandoned in the care of the state and religious institutions,” the report said.
It made 138 recommendations, including a public apology to the New Zealand government, as well as to the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, heads of the Catholic and Anglican churches respectively, who have previously condemned child abuse.
She also called on the government to establish a Safe Care Agency responsible for overseeing the industry, as well as new legislation including mandatory reporting of suspected abuse, including admissions made during religious confession.
The report estimated that the average cost of living for a survivor of abuse – meaning what New Zealanders would consider normal daily activities – was estimated in 2020 to be approximately NZ$857,000 (US$511,200.50) per person, although the report did not clarify the amount of compensation available to survivors.
Luxon said he believed the total compensation owed to survivors could run into billions of dollars.
“We are opening up discussions about reparations and we are doing that work with survivor groups,” she said.
The investigation also recommended payments to families who have been served by abuse survivors because of the intergenerational trauma they suffered, as well as a review of compensation paid in previous child abuse cases, including at the state-run Lake Alice adolescent unit.
“The most important element is to acknowledge survivors for the reality and the truth of their lives,” said Tracey McIntosh, a sociologist at the University of Auckland.
