A former state ward who was abused more than 40 years ago says survivors finally felt they had been heard after the release of a landmark report into abuse in state care.

Keith Wiffin, who was sent to a boys’ home and foster families in the 1970s, also said it was time for the Government and its lawyers to finally stop spending resources on denying and covering up abuse.

“It’s been an incredibly emotional day,” said Wiffin, who was in the public gallery in Parliament for the Government’s response to the Abuse in Care inquiry.

“At times it’s been a little bit overwhelming but … I’m pretty happy that this day has finally happened.”

Wiffin was instrumental in persuading the previous Labour Government to launch an inquiry into abuse in state care six years ago. He was later made a member of the Royal Commission’s Survivor Advisory Group.

Today, he said victims of abuse, estimated to be as many as 200,000, felt they had been heard, listened to and acknowledged by the commission.

“Survivors carried themselves with great dignity. It was very uplifting to be among them in the public gallery.

“There was an overriding feeling of solidarity today. And there was a … feeling that something now will finally be done for all those who have suffered.

“It was made clear in all the MPs’ speeches that we still have unacceptable rates of abuse, and that’s where the focus needs to be.”

He said: “There are very senior people who need to hang their heads in shame for the ways they have conducted themselves, both in the state and church – in trying to deny, minimise and cover-up for as long as they have done.

“Unfortunately, a lot of the state’s resources have been channelled into that approach.”

Wiffin was sent to Epuni Boys’ Home, in Lower Hutt, in the 1970s.

One of four children, he was handed over to the state because his mother was struggling after the death of his father at age 38. He had developed behavioural problems and ran away from home on one occasion.

He had two stints at Epuni – the first was eight months and the second, three months – with several years in between spent at “family homes”, large foster homes with more than a dozen children.

At Epuni, Wiffin faced violence at the hands of staff members and was sexually abused by a housemaster, Alan Moncrieff-Wright.

His initial attempts to get justice stalled, despite the Crown being aware Moncrieff-Wright had been convicted for similar offending in 1972 and 1988.

Moncrieff-Wright was eventually convicted in 2011 of assaulting three boys, including Wiffin.

After suing the government, Wiffin received an apology from government officials and a $20,000 payment, but he said this worsened his feelings of guilt.

He was confident that thr Government would commit to a new, independent redress system – one of the key recommendations from the commission.

Abuse and neglect a ‘national disgrace’

The abuse and neglect of hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders in the care of state and faith-based institutions has been branded “a national disgrace”.

The long-awaited report of the Abuse in Care Royal Commission, six years in the making, was released this afternoon.

“Instead of receiving care and support, children, young people and adults in care were exposed to unimaginable physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse, severe exploitation and neglect,” the report says.

It found people who had suffered during decades of systemic abuse had received little redress and “if this injustice is not addressed, it will remain as a stain on our national character forever”.

Among its 138 recommendations, the inquiry proposed avenues be opened up allowing for compensation claims to be made in the courts, outside the ACC system.

An estimated 655,000 children, young people and adults were in care during the period under review, from 1950 to 2019. Of these, it is estimated 200,000 were abused and even more were neglected.

The true number will never be known because some records were never created, were lost or, in some cases, destroyed.

“Abuse and neglect were widespread throughout the inquiry period.”

The abuse and neglect could not be justified by the standards of the day, or now, the report said.

“It is a national disgrace that hundreds of thousands of children, young people and adults were abused and neglected in the care of the state and faith-based institutions.

“These gross violations occurred at the same time as Aotearoa New Zealand was promoting itself, internationally and domestically, as a bastion of human rights and as a safe, fair country in which to grow up as a child in a loving family.”

The commission was established in 2018, initially to look into abuse in state care, and later expanded its remit to include religious or “faith-based” organisations.

The final report is 2944 pages long in 16 volumes, the last of which is a 364-page book of stories from “survivors”, the word used by the royal commission to describe the people who had been abused and neglected. The youngest person to give evidence was 14, the oldest was 87.

The report found fault with successive government ministers and departments, and a range of religious organisations including the Catholic Church, the Anglican Church, the Methodist and Presbyterian churches, the Salvation Army and the Gloriavale religious community on the West Coast.

Even the police were found to be at fault, for several failings, including the disproportionate representation of Māori in the justice system, negative treatment of Pacific peoples and disabled people, not following policies on the treatment of minors and using police cells to detain children and young people, sometimes for weeks.

The report called for official apologies and redress from the Government and the organisations responsible.

It said the apologies should be made by the global heads of the churches involved, including the Pope, for the Catholic Church, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, for Anglicans.

Police were asked to establish a specialist unit dedicated to investigating and prosecuting those responsible for the abuse, and the inquiry also called for a review of the appropriateness of street names and public amenities named after a proven perpetrator.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who called it “a dark and sorrowful day” following the report’s release, said the Government would make a formal apology on November 12.

The report found abuse across the spectrum of care settings, from foster homes to large institutions, and perpetrated by a wide range of people, including professionals and clinicians.

The abuse “almost always” started from the day a person was placed in care and often continued until they left. For some, this meant years or even decades of frequent abuse and neglect.

“For some, it was a lifetime; for others, it led to an unmarked grave.”

Another recommendation called for an inquiry into these unmarked graves, evidence of which had been found at former psychiatric institutions across New Zealand, particularly at Porirua, Tokanui and Sunnyside hospitals.