New Zealand PM delivers landmark apology to survivors of state abuse

New Zealand PM Christopher Luxon apologizes for historic state care abuse, acknowledging unimaginable pain of victims.

New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon delivered a historic apology Tuesday (November 12, 2024) to victims abused in state care, acknowledging the "unimaginable pain" suffered within children's homes and psychiatric hospitals.

Some 2,00,000 vulnerable New Zealanders were abused in state care in the seven decades since the 1950s, according to a six-year public inquiry that described its findings as an "unthinkable national catastrophe". Youngsters were sexually abused by church carers, mothers were forced to give up children for adoption, and troublesome patients were strapped to beds for seizure-inducing electroconvulsive therapy.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Tuesday apologised on behalf of successive governments that turned a blind eye to such harrowing reports.

"I am sorry you were not believed when you came forward to report your abuse," he said in an address delivered to parliament. "Some of you may feel my words count for little after so long and so much hurt. But I hope that today, with this apology and the acknowledgement of your burden, it becomes a little lighter for some of you."

Survivors packed a public gallery inside New Zealand's parliament to watch Mr. Luxon deliver the apology, many of them weeping and overcome with emotion. Others jeered when New Zealand's solicitor-general, accused of hindering survivors' legal claims, stood at a press conference to give her own apology.

Survivor Tu Chapman told reporters the government had to answer for "decades of abuse, neglect, and torture by those running state, church and faith-based institutions".

Officials had started work to scrub the names of proven perpetrators from street signs and other public memorials, Mr. Luxon said. Churches implicated in the abuse would be expected to "do the right thing" and take part in the redress process, he added.