WELLINGTON, New Zealand – New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon made a “formal and unreserved” apology to Parliament on Tuesday for the widespread abuse, torture and neglect of hundreds of thousands of children and vulnerable adults in care.

“It was awful. It was heartbreaking. It was wrong. And it should never have happened,” Luxon said as she spoke to lawmakers and a public gallery packed with abuse survivors.

Around 200,000 people in state, foster and faith-based care are estimated to have suffered “unimaginable” abuse over seven decades, said a damning report published in July at the end of the biggest ever inquiry in New Zealand. They were disproportionately Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand.

“For many of you, it changed the course of your life, and for that, the government needs to take responsibility,” Luxon said. He said he also apologized to the previous governments.

In foster care and the church – as well as in state-run institutions, including hospitals and residential schools – vulnerable people “should be safe and treated with respect, dignity and compassion”, he added. “But instead you were subjected to appalling abuse and neglect and, in some cases, torture.”

The findings of the six-year inquiry, believed to be the largest comparable probe worldwide, were a “national disgrace”, the inquiry’s report said. The New Zealand inquiry followed two decades of such inquiries around the globe as nations struggle to come to grips with abuses by authorities against children removed from their families and placed in care.

Of the 650,000 children and vulnerable adults in state, foster care and church care in New Zealand between 1950 and 2019 – in a country that today has a population of 5 million – almost a third suffered physical, sexual, verbal or psychological abuse. Many others were exploited or neglected.

“We will never know the true number,” Opposition Leader Chris Hipkins told Parliament. “Many people entering state and religious institutions were undocumented. Records have been incomplete, gone, and in some cases, yes, deliberately destroyed.”

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 – a claim that successive administrations have rejected.

“I am deeply sorry that New Zealand did not do better with you. I’m sorry you weren’t believed when you came forward to report your abuse,” Luxon said. “I am sorry that many abusers were not brought to justice, which meant that other people suffered abuse that could have been prevented.”

His government is working on 28 of the inquiry’s 138 recommendations, Luxon said, although he did not yet have concrete details on financial compensation, which the inquiry had urged from 2021 and said could reach billions of dollars.

Luxon was condemned early Tuesday by some survivors and supporters for not disclosing compensation plans alongside the apology. He told Parliament that a single compensation system would be established in 2025.

He did not, however, suggest a figure for the amount the government expected to pay.

“It’s going to be a big bill, but it’s nothing compared to the debt we owe to those survivors and it must not be the reason for further delays,” said Hipkins, the opposition leader.

Later on Tuesday, the government introduced a series of legislative changes to improve the safety of those in care, including a ban on strip searches of children. Luxon also announced a national day of remembrance on November 12 each year. Work will begin to remove the names of abusers from street signs, he said.

Survivors began arriving in Parliament hours before the apology, winning seats in the public gallery by voting. Some were reluctant to accept the state’s words because they said the extent of the horror was not yet fully understood by lawmakers and civil servants.

The jeers were so loud during an apology from the country’s attorney general that her speech was inaudible. Others shouted or left the room in tears as senior civil servants from relevant health and welfare agencies spoke before Luxon’s remarks.

Survivors invited to speak were forced to do so before Luxon’s apology — rather than in response to it, said Tu Chapman, one of those asked to speak.

“Right now I feel alone and in total despair at the way this government has taken on the task of recognizing all survivors,” she told a crowd in Parliament.

The abuse “has torn apart families and communities, trapping many in a life of prison, incarceration, leaving many uneducated,” said Keith Wiffin — a survivor of abuse at a notorious state-run boys’ home. “It has damaged our international reputation as an advocate for human rights, something this nation likes to feast on.”

The inquiry’s recommendations included an apology from state and church leaders, including Pope Francis. It also approved the creation of offices for the prosecution of abusers and the adoption of reparations, the reform of civil and criminal law, the rewriting of the child protection system and the search for unmarked graves in psychiatric institutions.

Its writers were scathing about how widely the abuse – and the identities of many abusers – had been known for years without anything being done to stop it.

“This meant you had to relive your trauma over and over again,” Luxon said. “Agencies should have done better and must commit to doing so in the future.”

He did not acknowledge that civil servants or government ministers who denied state abuses were widespread when they worked in previous administrations should lose their jobs. Luxon also rejected suggestions from survivors that policies he has adopted that disproportionately target Māori — such as a crackdown on gangs and setting up military-style boot camps for young offenders — undermine his government’s remorse for regarding abuse.

Maori are over-represented in prisons and gangs. In 2023, 68% of children in state care were Māori, although they represent less than 20% of New Zealand’s population.

“Apologizing is not enough,” said Fa’afete Taito, a survivor of violent abuse in another state-run home and former gang member. “What really matters is what you do to heal the wounds of your actions and make sure it never happens again.”