Australia atones for sex abuse epidemic

SYDNEY — Australia sought to atone for a decades-long epidemic of child sexual abuse Monday as Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued an official apology that acknowledged the government’s systemic failures to protect the nation’s children.

The apology, delivered to a gathering of victims in Canberra, the nation’s capital, was the culmination of a five-year government inquiry that exposed widespread sexual abuse. The investigation was perhaps the most far-reaching inquiry of its kind undertaken by any country, examining abuse across a range of religious and secular institutions. Investigators found that thousands of children were sexually abused and countless instances of accusations were ignored or covered up.

“We are sorry,” Mr. Morrison said in the Great Hall of Parliament, as victims, advocates and officials held hands.

“Sorry you are not protected,” he said. “Sorry you are not listened to. We are sorry for refusing to trust the words of children, for not believing you. As we say sorry, we also say we believe you.”

The occasion served as a solemn moment of reckoning. The findings of the investigation, which were released in December, laid bare the scale of the abuse — in schools, churches, sporting clubs and foster homes — and also the lengths to which many institutions went to shield abusers.

Dozens of victims and their families gathered in Canberra for the ceremonies surrounding the apology, and the events were televised nationwide. The apology offered a rare display of harmony in Parliament, as Mr. Morrison and the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, echoed each other in expressing the nation’s contrition.

But the day also reflected the depths of the victims’ anguish and anger, as some in the crowd heckled the prime minister or stormed from the room.

“He kept saying ‘sorry, sorry, sorry,’” said Paul Auchettl, whose abuse by a Catholic brother started when he was 11. “It’s like he didn’t know what else to say. We need somebody to outline a plan forward. It’s not enough to say sorry.”

Officials announced their intention to issue a formal national apology soon after the findings from the investigation, conducted as part of a royal commission, were released last year.