He was particularly disappointed by the Government not adopting the recommendation to create an independent redress system to ensure it was separate from institutions that had facilitated the abuse.

“After initially showing support for it, [the Government] threw it in the bin,” he said.

“There would have been trust. We haven’t seen that.”

Minister Erica Stanford addressed those who had gathered on Parliament's steps. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Stanford, who accepted a bouquet of flowers picked from sites where state abuse occurred, acknowledged there were “hundreds of recommendations”, many of which require not only funding but “drastic changes” to how government departments operated.

“We are committed to that work.”

She noted the Government spent about $770 million in Budget 2025 to improve the redress system and was pleased more survivors were coming forward.

Prime, speaking after Stanford, said she had been disappointed by the Government passing other legislation that contradicted the inquiry’s recommendations or excluded survivors’ input.

However, she accepted all parliamentarians should be held accountable for abuse that spanned decades and the subsequent response from governments.

Chhour, herself a survivor, said she was working hard to make sure young people could be the “best version of themselves”.

Davidson reinforced the need for a wider redress system.

“We need justice and redress for all survivors, not just some.”

Human Rights Commission chief executive Meg de Ronde said less than 10% of the inquiry’s recommendations had been implemented and noted survivors calls for independent redress had been ignored.

“Children and young people were tortured and abused, they suffered cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.

“There are international standards for how you implement processes like this, and the bare minimum of those is independence from the people that were responsible for those care systems.”

Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.