Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to acknowledge the member for Barton and the other speakers and thank them for giving a voice to the survivors and their families. I'm a proud and practising Catholic, so I've been troubled deeply by the way in which young people were placed in the care of our church, and other churches and organisations, by the Commonwealth—by governments—which failed them dreadfully. A lot of wrongs have been done; a lot of hurt has been caused. Although we cannot undo those wrongs, although we can't erase the hurt that's already been caused, we should compensate the victims, those whose lives have been marked in some way. That is something that we can do. In some cases their lives have been totally destroyed. It is now well beyond time to begin righting those wrongs.

I've got a short period of time now, so I want to paint a picture for those listening, and tomorrow I'll continue and call on the government to act. Back in 2014, more than six years ago now, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse travelled to the Northern Territory. They went to hear evidence from surviving Aboriginal people who had as children been housed at the Retta Dixon Home in Darwin, which some speakers have already mentioned. These were mixed race children, part of the stolen generations, that the government forcibly took from their families and institutionalised between 1946, when the home opened, and 1980, when Retta Dixon was shut down. For those listening, maybe at home, out on the road or wherever, the last thing I want to do is retraumatise people, but in painting this picture of Retta Dixon I will be mentioning some heinous acts that were performed so that others listening understand the gravity of the situation and why the Commonwealth needs to act.

Hundreds of kids who were put into Retta Dixon were abused in horrific ways—physically, emotionally and sexually. They stayed at the home until they were 18 years of age. The centre was run by AIM, formerly the Aborigines Inland Mission and now called the Australian Indigenous Ministries. They have the same acronym, AIM. The royal commission heard appalling evidence of abuse by the adults employed by AIM to run the Retta Dixon Home—adults who were charged with caring for these children. There was evidence of children being chained up like dogs, a baby force-fed until it vomited, children whipped with electrical cords or sexually punished, a girl who was stabbed with a can-opener until she bled, another girl who was punched so hard her nose broke and who was left for days without medical treatment. Kids who wet the bed would be undressed and paraded in nappies in front of the other children—humiliated. They were molested and they were raped, both by adult staff, one of whom was widely known by all the children as a serial rapist of children, but also by some of the other kids, who had themselves been molested.

These witnesses painted a horrifying picture at the hearings that were held in Darwin. Many of them wept for the entirety of their evidence. They spoke of how, understandably, the abuse they'd suffered marked their entire lives. It destroyed their relationships with partners, with their kids and with their families. They told of how, decades later, they still lived in fear and still suffered from nightmares. They recounted their inability to reconnect with their parents and siblings once they were released. They spoke of their depression, their drug addiction and alcoholism, and the suicidal ideation that they grappled with as a result of the demons that they carried.

I want to take a moment to highlight the incredible bravery of those witnesses who came forward to detail what they had endured. It was unspeakably difficult for them to do that after decades of living in shame and silence. I want to take a moment to pay tribute to the dozens and dozens of other victims who we did not hear from at the royal commission—

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