New Zealand's state failed to respond to decades of 'commonplace' sexual abuse of people in its care, a royal commission found.
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The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care released its final report on 24 July 2024. It estimated that about 200,000 of roughly 655,000 people in state and faith-based care between 1950 and 2019 were abused, found that 'sexual abuse was commonplace', and found the state failed to respond to signs of systemic abuse and neglect; it made 138 recommendations. On 12 November 2024 Prime Minister Christopher Luxon apologised for the State, saying 'I am sorry the State's oversight of people in care was so poor', 'I am sorry you were not believed when you came forward' and 'I am sorry that many abusers were not made to face justice'. In May 2025 the government put almost $775 million into the existing redress system run by the Ministry of Social Development rather than creating the new, more independent scheme the commission recommended.
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