Page 5059 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 17 November 2009
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definite ways to repair this harm. We must learn the lessons from this period and be vigilant so that all possible protection and the best care are available to children who now and in the future will be raised in out-of-home care.
This apology is long overdue, and the ACT Greens support the Chief Minister’s motion. We hope that we learn from these lessons of the past and that in some small way the apology helps the forgotten Australians by letting them know we are truly sorry for their having had to endure the grief and hardship and loss.
MS BURCH (Brindabella—Minister for Disability, Housing and Community Services, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Women) (10.18): I support the Chief Minister and his comments on the Prime Minister’s apology to the forgotten Australians and the former child migrants. Yesterday, the Prime Minister delivered a heartfelt apology. It was an apology to hundreds of thousands of Australians who, as children and young people, spent time in institutions and other forms of out-of-home care. During the last century, there were approximately 500,000 such people. There were also some 7,000 former child migrants in Australia. Known as the lost innocents, they arrived in Australia through government-agreed child migration schemes. Many were subsequently placed in institutions and, like the forgotten Australians, suffered untold neglect and abuse.
I have taken time to listen to their stories. Each experience varied and each person and each experience is important. Many of them suffered abandonment and loss, grief through separation from parents and families, and loss of identity. In some cases, physical and sexual assault, exploitation, brutality, mistreatment and neglect were experienced by these children. Many were wrongfully told that they had been abandoned by their parents and families and that their families no longer cared or that their parents were dead. Some had lost their parents and then were separated from their families and taken away, taken to a new location.
This is the story of my mother, who was orphaned as a very young child. She was separated from her brothers by many kilometres, separated by a life. It was only as an adult that she was able to rekindle these relationships with her brothers. She was separated by a life of isolation, hardship and despair. But, as an adult, she rekindled those relationships with her brothers, and perhaps that is what cemented her attitudes to our large family. So these stories are, indeed, incredibly personal to me.
Childhood is difficult enough without the suffering that these adults remember today, and I am pleased that the Prime Minister acknowledged the suffering of Canberrans who experienced abuse or neglect and expressed deep regret for their ongoing sadness and suffering. An apology and acknowledgement of the past is not only an important step in helping to heal the emotional and psychological harm, but it lets the voices of children who were not heard when they were growing up be heard and lets their stories be finally told.
To coincide with the Prime Minister’s apology, my department, the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services, has developed and distributed specific materials promoting the event and setting out where people can get support and information, should they require it. It has made counsellors and social workers available to provide support during this time of reflection.
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