Forgotten Australians
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission welcomes the Senate report into children who experienced institutional or out-of-home care, called Forgotten Australians.
The report, tabled in Federal Parliament yesterday, was described by the Senate Community Affairs References committee as the third in a trilogy of the reports about the suffering of children in institutional care. The first was Bringing them home, the Commission’s 1997 report of the National Inquiry into the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families; and the second was Lost innocents, the 2001 report by Senate Community Affairs References committee into child migration.
The Commission expresses its sorrow and sympathy to those former children who suffered in institutional care, who courageously told their stories of abuse and neglect, who shared their experiences of rejection, and of the emotional and mental pain that came from a lack of parental love and an environment that did not offer them the care and nurturing that young children need and deserve.
The Commission calls for any response to the report to recognise the other two reports in the trilogy and to ensure a consistent and just approach to acknowledging the harm and making reparations to those who have suffered – whether they were Indigenous or non-Indigenous children or child migrants.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mr Tom Calma said the terribly sad, moving and brave accounts given by people who suffered abuse and neglect had echoes of those told during the Commission’s National Inquiry into Indigenous people removed from their families as children.
“Like the National Inquiry, Forgotten Australians found that the telling of the stories for many was a step on the road towards healing for the people who suffered in these institutions as children,” he said. “But it also revealed another deep scar in Australia’s history of dealing with its vulnerable children and highlighted what needs to be done to continue the healing.”
“The report made a raft of recommendations, many of which mirrored those from Bringing them home - including an acknowledgement and apology for the harm, reparations, the need to preserve and make records available to former State wards, the need for support and counselling services and for ways of recording oral histories about their experiences.”
“As a nation we can no longer turn our backs on the suffering of all of these children or dismiss their stories as a reflection of the mores of the day.”
Media enquiries: Janine MacDonald (02) 9284 9880 or 0407 660 235
Last updated 2 September 2004.
