Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to concur with the remarks of Senator Evans, Senator Minchin and Senator Siewert, and support this motion on the forgotten Australians and former child migrants. I would like to endorse the remarks of and the work done by former Democrat Senator Andrew Murray, who has been tireless in seeking this objective. I also endorse the work done by Senator Gary Humphries. Child migrants are part and parcel of the history of Australia. Much sadness has surrounded them. I can see that Senator Hutchins is in the chamber. Senator Hutchins and I are descended from child migrants.

Removal must be the last alternative, and the removal of people from love and a family structure to an institution is a diabolical thing for any human being. It is interesting to think about some of the towns where these orphanages were located. I remember the orphanage at Armidale. Orphanages were part and parcel of so many country towns, a peculiarity now that is hard to get our minds around. People who migrated from England and other places could be found in these orphanages. They had to grow up in an institution in loco parentis with people who were in no way related to them. I went to a local state school and I knew the fear people had when the welfare officer would come around. I knew that people had been removed. Some of them had to be removed, to be honest. There was no alternative because sometimes the situations people were in were diabolical. But they should never have been removed and placed in a situation that was on a par or worse than the one they came from. This was the great crime that happened. People were put in situations where they were under threat of sexual predators and under threat of being bullied and harassed, and where they were lumbered with a life of menial tasks. These people should have received love, attention and care, and not put in places which were comparable or worse than where they came from.

I hope that this apology brings some sense of solace to those people who came to Parliament House today—about 900 of them. We do not for one second pretend that we can replace all that has been lost in their lives. It would be impossible to do that. What value do you put on a family life? What value do you put on the knowledge of a mother and a father? What value do you put on the love that you receive by being tucked into bed and being kissed goodnight by your mother? How can you possibly replace those things? It is beyond payment. But there has to be an acknowledgement of the wrongs that were committed against these people. For someone to be removed and told that their parents had died, and for their parents to be told that their child had died, as happened in some instances, is an abominable punishment for that person.

I would like to acknowledge the hard work done by the Senate Community Affairs Committee over a long period of time and their persistence in this matter. As a positive, I would also like to acknowledge the bipartisan stance taken by the committee in trying to bring about a resolution and showing that this chamber can bring about something good—not something equivalent to the loss but something that at least in a minor way alleviates the pain suffered. I wish those people who came to Parliament House today all the best. This parliament stood in unison today and said: ‘We offer our heartfelt apology and we acknowledge that you have suffered. Whatever small thing we can offer to mitigate the pain you have felt then we offer it to you here today.’