Mr BAYLEY (Clark) – Honourable Speaker, I rise tonight to talk about the forgotten Australians. A week or so ago I attended an event to celebrate 16 November, the 15‑year anniversary of the National Apology to Forgotten Australians.
This is an apology that was given by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd with bipartisan support from Malcolm Turnbull apologising to forgotten Australians and former child migrants. These are people who had suffered abuse in institutional care and out‑of‑home care and have suffered a lifetime of trauma as a result. Here in Tasmania, having just gone through the commission of inquiry process, I know all of us in this place can completely understand the incredible trauma, the intergenerational anxiety and pain and the lifelong impacts that abuse in institutional out‑of‑home care and other settings has.
The apology to forgotten Australians was incredibly significant because many of these people had spent a lifetime waiting. This was a policy – particularly the child migrants policy – from the 1950s and earlier, and these people are now getting into their 60s, 70s and beyond, so they had been waiting for an apology. It was a validation of their experience.
It is important to hear our leaders validate their experience and ensure that they know that they are being heard – that their issues and trauma are being heard and that there is action being taken to improve not only their quality of life but their emotional and psychological wellbeing.
It was very welcome that 15 years ago that apology was delivered, and it did not come easily. There were three Senate inquiries looking at forgotten Australians and former child migrants. There was the Lost Innocents: Righting the Record inquiry from 2001, there was the Forgotten Australians inquiry from 2004 and there was Forgotten Australians Revisited in 2009. It was great work by the Senate in pushing for that national apology that was delivered on 16 November 15 years ago.
I thank Neighbourhood Houses Tasmania and Nathan at the Goodwood Community Centre who hosted us at this celebratory event. It was Relationships Australia who effectively put it on, but ultimately it was the Alliance of Forgotten Australians that held this event. They are the organisation that flies the flag for forgotten Australians and continues to make sure that they are remembered, they are not forgotten and their experiences are heard and recognised.
The Alliance for Forgotten Australians is committed to recognition and healing for forgotten Australians and encourages their active engagement in the development of policy and services. It started in 2006; there are 5000 odd people who are involved. The Alliance for Forgotten Australians is committed to obtaining adequate acknowledgement, accountability and redress for past wrongs and for achieving the full implementation of the recommendations of the Senate report overseen by a national watch committee.
That is at the national level. At the state level it was fantastic to meet a whole suite of forgotten Australians, some of whom had come from the north of the state. I give a particular shout out to Dave Henderson, who seems to be spearheading and flying the flag for forgotten Australians in Tasmania, trying to build community of forgotten Australians so that they can have strength and solidarity in numbers. He is advocating for better recognition for forgotten Australians and has been writing to the Premier to seek his support for a modest amount of funding to try to establish a memorial in nipaluna/Hobart to remember forgotten Australians.
I acknowledge there is a very small memorial plaque at the Royal Botanical Gardens, in the rose garden, but Dave and his fellow forgotten Australians are really looking for support from the state government to establish something more significant, because a memorial is something they see they can gather together at to remember their experiences and seek solidarity in their collective.
Glenorchy mayor, Sue Hickey, was at the event and is interested in finding land for such a memorial. However, the Forgotten Australians and Dave are really looking for support from the state government. We will be taking this up with the Premier on behalf of Forgotten Australians. It was fantastic to share our day with them and remember the apology from 15 years ago.
Time expired.
