Senate debates

Monday, 16 November 2009

National Apology to the Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants

1:09 pm

Photo of Nick XenophonNick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I add my unequivocal support for the government’s motion and endorse the heartfelt remarks of my colleagues—Senators Evans, Minchin, Siewert, Joyce and Fielding. Cruelty in all its forms is completely unacceptable, but cruelty against children is a particular kind of evil. It causes incredible emotional pain as well as the physical pain. Too often it destroys hope and a passion for living in its victims. We need as a nation to say sorry for what was done to the forgotten Australians and former child migrants. We need to acknowledge their pain and bear witness to their suffering. We need to say: ‘We hear you, we believe you, we acknowledge what our country and institutions did to you and we are sorry.’

Wounds do not heal if they are left to fester and are not dealt with. Many of these forgotten Australians have been forced to stay silent and hide secrets their whole lives. This apology is a way to make it clear once and for all that the forgotten Australians should not be expected to keep our country’s and our institutions’ shameful secrets. The 2001 Senate inquiry into child migrants, brought about by the advocacy of former Senator Andrew Murray, heard from more than 200 victims, many of whom were deported to Australia and told they had no families. The subsequent work by the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs, chaired by Senator Siewert and worked on by Senator Humphries, built on that valuable body of work. Senator Evans is right when he says that this shows the Senate at its best. As state wards, these forgotten Australians were subjected to unthinkable abuse–emotional, physical and sexual. They were neglected and many children were forced to work as virtual slave labour. These stories need to be told and their suffering needs to be acknowledged.

In my home state of South Australia the abuse of state wards was also endemic. For a long time South Australian institutions did not want to know about the allegations of abuse of wards of the state and migrant children. There was a shameful silence and an unwillingness to listen. But one survivor in particular helped change the debate in South Australia in a way that in hindsight is truly remarkable. I have spent a significant amount of time talking to Ki Meekins. Ki is a survivor who arguably did more to expose my state’s shameful history when it comes to the mistreatment of children than anyone else. As a ward of the state, Ki was routinely sexually abused by a well-known Adelaide children’s entertainer and his partner. He was frequently taken out of state care by these men, abused and then taken back. Ki was flown interstate to be raped. He was punished if he ever told authorities what had happened to him.

The things that happened to Ki should have been a knockout blow for him. No-one would have been surprised if someone in his position could not get out from underneath the pain he had endured. But Ki did get out; he did fight back. He told his story again and again until somebody listened. That somebody was Graham Archer, the executive producer of the Adelaide edition of the Today Tonight program. Despite the prevailing desire amongst some in the community to not investigate this matter, Graham took a stand in 2002 and commissioned a series of investigations into the abuse of Ki and other wards of the state in South Australia. It was investigative reporting at its best. It would be reasonable to conclude that initially the government and the institutions did not want to know. They did not give the allegations the urgency and gravity they deserved. Calls for a royal commission or a formal inquiry were initially dismissed, but the victims were not willing to be silenced this time. They kept telling their stories and the media kept reporting them and eventually the momentum was unstoppable.

In 2005, the state government had ordered an inquiry by former Supreme Court justice Ted Mulligan into the abuse of wards of the state. It showed a disgraceful history of abuse of wards of the state—physically, emotionally and sexually. Commissioner Mulligan did an outstanding job of listening compassionately to victims and the recommendations in his report are invaluable. The tales of neglect and abuse were unimaginable, yet they were all true. These stories should not be forgotten and these victims cannot be forgotten. Ki Meekins has emerged from this stronger. There is a saying by the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche: that which does not destroy you makes you stronger, and Ki is living testament to that. He wrote a book, Red Tape Rape, which gives a harrowing account of what he and others were subjected to.

However, from all this sadness there is some hope because, if anyone had a right to give up and lose their way, it was the forgotten Australians. Instead of love they were given pain, instead of security they were given fear, and instead of a promising future they were given seemingly insurmountable odds. Yet overwhelmingly they survived and against the odds so many have flourished. Their lives are testimony to the strength of the human spirit. They would not allow their oppressors to define their destinies. And so I pay tribute to the forgotten Australians and I join the Prime Minister and all my colleagues in support of this apology. To all the forgotten children I say: from the worst possible starts in life, you have come to represent the best in us all.

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