Page 5119 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 27 October 2010
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persisted with their education. They understand that they will end up in a better place because of their education and they have persisted, often in the face of considerable odds against that process.
When we are talking about the support provided to people, I could not possibly let this opportunity go past without paying tribute to that other non-government organisation which the minister also mentioned, Karinya House. Members would know that I am one of the patrons for Karinya House home for mothers and babies. I think that they do a spectacular and heroic job in this area as well. I note that both the Speaker and Ms Burch were at one of the more recent Karinya House fundraising events. I said at the time that it showed the huge support for it. It was a great acknowledgement of the work that is done by Karinya House.
Karinya House is an example of how, hopefully, today in the 21st century we are in a different place in relation to addressing the problems of women who are confronted with difficult pregnancies. I have often said—and I think I have said in this place—that when many women discover that they are pregnant it is not an experience of unalloyed joy. I know many people in stable relationships who still think, “Oh gosh.” There is often a sense of trepidation. The situation that arises for young women who do not have appropriate family support is difficult today. I believe that in previous ages it was more difficult than it is even today. I think that the mores of the times have created a situation that we are talking about here today.
The Canberra Liberals are in support of the notion that we should acknowledge past errors and address those. As we have said in relation to the apology to the stolen generation, it was the Canberra Liberals who led the country in this area. It is not an issue where we are afraid of owning up to mistakes of the past.
Both Ms Hunter and the minister have acknowledged that the practices that we are talking about happened before self-government. If they happened in Western Australia and they happened in New South Wales they have probably happened here as well. Ms Hunter is right to say that, because young women from the ACT might have gone interstate to homes and established hostels for unwed mothers, it does not mean that we are less culpable. If these things happened to people in the ACT and they were condoned by the authorities, the ACT community does have a responsibility.
Where we have a parting of the ways—and it is only a modest parting of the ways—as I have already said to Ms Hunter, concerns the problem I have with the language of this motion, particularly paragraph (4), which seems to put the cart before the horse. I know that Ms Hunter’s remarks in moving this motion differ from the clear words of the motion, but what will be reflected on are the clear words of the motion.
The Canberra Liberals believe that to some extent we are putting the cart before the horse. We are asking the ACT—whether it is the ACT government or the ACT community generally—to apologise before the case has been put, so to speak. The example that was put to me amongst my colleagues this morning was that we went down the path of an apology but only after the Bringing them home report. We put together a body of evidence which reinforced and accentuated the need for an apology. I have a problem with the current wording because it asks the ACT government to
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