“It was horrible. It was heartbreaking. It was wrong. And it shouldn’t have happened,” Luxon said as he spoke to lawmakers and a public gallery packed with abuse survivors.
An estimated 200,000 people in state, foster and religious care suffered “unimaginable” abuse over a seven-decade period, according to a brilliant report released in July at the end of New Zealand’s biggest ever inquiry.
“For many of you, this has changed the course of your lives, and the government must take responsibility for that,” Luxon said.
“Words are important and I speak them sincerely: I have read your stories and I believe you,” he added.
The prime minister also apologizes on behalf of the previous governments, he said.
The results were a “national disgrace”, the inquiry’s report said, following a six-year inquiry believed to be the widest range of comparable investigations in the world.
Of the 650,000 children and vulnerable adults in state, foster and church care between 1950 and 2019 — in a country of 5 million today — nearly a third suffered physical, sexual, verbal or psychological abuse. Many more have been exploited or neglected.
They were disproportionately Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand.
In response to the findings, the New Zealand government agreed for the first time that the historic treatment of some children at a notorious state hospital amounted to torture and promised an apology to anyone abused in state, foster and religious care since 1950.
Some survivors and advocates blasted Luxon’s government earlier Tuesday ahead of the apology for not yet revealing plans to financially compensate abusers.