New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has issued a landmark apology to survivors of abuse in state and church care.

“It was horrific. It was heartbreaking. It was wrong. And it should never have happened,” Luxon said on Tuesday in remarks to parliament.

“For many of you, it changed the course of your life, and for that, the government must take responsibility.”

The rare apology comes after an independent inquiry in July reported its finding that New Zealand’s state and faith-based institutions had presided over the abuse of some 200,000 children, young people and vulnerable adults over the span of seven decades.

New Zealand’s Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that nearly one in three people in state or religious care between 1950 and 2019 experienced abuse in what amounted to a “national disgrace”.

Sexual abuse was “commonplace”, while physical abuse was “prevalent across all settings”, the inquiry found, with some staff going to “extremes to inflict as much pain as possible using weapons and electric shocks”.

The inquiry also found that Maori and Pacific Islander people were targeted because of their ethnicity, such as by being prevented from engaging with their cultural heritage and practices.

The inquiry made 138 recommendations, including calling for public apologies from New Zealand’s government and the heads of the Catholic and Anglican churches.

Other recommendations included legislative changes to make it easier to hold abusers accountable and the establishment of a Ministry for the Care System that would be independent from other government agencies involved in the care system.

“You deserved so much better. And I am deeply sorry that New Zealand did not do better by you,” Luxon said.

“I am sorry you were not believed when you came forward to report your abuse. I am sorry that many bystanders – staff, volunteers and carers – turned a blind eye and failed to stop or report abuse.”