New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon expressed regret on Wednesday after a public enquiry found some 200,000 children, young people and vulnerable adults were abused in state and religious care over the last 70 years. Nearly one in three children and vulnerable adults in care from 1950 to 2019 experienced some form of abuse, the report found, a finding that could leave the government facing billions of dollars in fresh compensation claims. “This is a dark and sorrowful 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 do so,” Luxon told a news conference. An official apology will follow on November 12, he added. The report by Royal Commission of Inquiry spoke to over 2,300 survivors of abuse in New Zealand, which has a population of 5.3 million. The inquiry detailed a litany of abuses in state and faith-based…
