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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 6 Hansard (17 June) . . Page.. 1605 ..

MR WHITECROSS (continuing):

Once the children were taken from their parents, family contact was discouraged. They may even have been told lies, such as that their parents were dead, to discourage that contact. They were taught to reject Aborigines and Aboriginality, to stop identifying themselves as Aboriginal people. They were kept in harsh conditions. They were given only basic education. If they were required to work they often were not paid for the work they were required to do. Excessive physical punishments were common. They were exposed to the risk of sexual abuse. In short, the authorities who took it upon themselves to take these people away, because they claimed they could give them a better life, failed to care for and protect these children.

What were the effects of those policies? These children lost their primary carers in infancy. This led to long-term problems, such as insecurity and lack of self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness, depression and suicide, delinquency and violence, alcohol and drug abuse, and a lack of trust in intimacy. Mr Speaker, they lost those fundamental caring relationships which help us to find our authentic identity as human beings. That is why those policies were wrong and that is why we have to apologise.

People who were forcibly removed were not better off. Their ability to learn parenting skills was undermined because they did not grow up in normal family relationships. They grew up in other kinds of relationships which denied them those parenting skills. They did not have the experience of growing up in their own families, which meant that their suffering was then passed on to the next generation. The next generation also suffered the impact of those policies. They also lost their heritage in many cases, and in many cases they have not been able to rediscover it or reclaim it. That is to say nothing of the effect on the mothers of the children who were taken and the impact on their lives.

Mr Speaker, the Bringing them home report talks about the importance of reparation as our response to this. It talks about the components of reparation, acknowledgment and apology, and this motion is part of that process of acknowledgment and apology. It talks about guarantees against repetition. This motion also talks about our determination that these policies will not happen in the future in the ACT, and that is an important element of the reparation process. It talks about measures of restitution to the extent that that is possible. It talks about measures of rehabilitation and it talks about monetary compensation. Those are the challenges that are ahead for us in relation to this. What are we, as a community, going to do to ensure that people receive restitution and appropriate rehabilitation, whether counselling or otherwise? We have to play our role in supporting calls for appropriate compensation too. These are all key elements of the reparation process and they are elements which we have to remember to embrace.

Another thing which is talked about in the report in the context of reparation is ensuring that these stories are told; that the truth is told about what happened in the past. I am not one of those people who believe that we can simply turn our back on the past and say, "Let us not talk about the past. Let us not think about those bad things that happened. Let us worry about just the future". I do not think we should dwell on the past in a morbid way and I do not think we should revel in unhappiness; but I do believe, Mr Speaker, that we have a responsibility to ensure that people understand. Our children should understand what has happened in the past. They should know the truth about our history. Knowing the truth, and being honest about what has gone before, we can truly move ahead together.

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