Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Justice, Customs and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to the minister for sharing that story. I think it is often the case that, when we are doing things in the parliament, it is the personal stories that people bring in here that can really frame these issues in our minds, and obviously that story is one of the ones where we can see just how tough these policies were on people and the enormous human toll that they took.

I will not use all of my time but I just want to take the opportunity to add my voice to the national apology for forced adoptions and removals. It is astonishing to find, when we look back, that it is actually not that long ago and how cruel these policies were for the people who were involved. For the parliament to come together, as we did in the last sitting period, and offer an apology on behalf of the people of Australia for what occurred is a very important thing that this parliament has done.

I will confess that, in the past when the parliament has come together to issue some of these apologies, I have sometimes been a bit, I suppose, cynical about the benefits of them.

But when you see the effect they have on people who have been affected by the policies, and the effect that the national apology can have, any of those thoughts are dispelled. I must admit I felt the same way about the national apology that was given by former Prime Minister Rudd on behalf of the country to Aboriginal people in Australia. To see the effect that had on the people and what it meant to them I think would dispel even the most cynical of thoughts about the importance of the national parliament taking these stands and saying on behalf of the nation that we are sorry for some of the things that have happened in our nation's past.

When we are talking about forced adoptions we are really talking about policies which, certainly to our eyes today, seem unimaginably cruel, and the institutionalised nature of the fact. We need to understand that the standards were so different back then. Even though it is not that long ago, the way people were treated was different. If you were a single mother in the 1950s and 1960s social stigma was attached to that. There was inability really to have any power over the situation. If you were a single mother it might be that your family would not want you to have contact with the father, perhaps the father just refused to take any responsibility and there was nothing at the time to ensure fathers would be forced to face up to the consequences of their actions. You could certainly impregnate somebody and then disown your responsibilities, and that happened to a lot of women, unfortunately, during those times. Then the stigma attached to them by society for being single mothers was crushing. A lot of families would not have anything to do with a daughter who found herself in this situation. They had so few options because it was not the case back then, as it is the case today, that you could rely on the social security system for support, for instance. If you were a single mother and you found yourself in these circumstances, your options for how you would support yourself and support your family would be incredibly limited. Obviously, for mothers facing these circumstances it was incredibly difficult.

I join with the parliament and say that I think this is the right motion on behalf of the country. I think it is good that the parliament has come together to apologise for forced adoptions and I add my voice to the parliament's motion. I think it is a very worthy thing for the parliament to have done.

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