James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too take the opportunity to make some remarks following on from the minister's marking of the historic 10th anniversary of this apology. We take the opportunity in this parliament to commemorate these important apologies that have occurred for things in our history that we are very much ashamed of, very much regretful of. It's so important that we take the opportunity to remind ourselves of those uncomfortable elements of our history because they do indeed ensure that we are always vigilant today and into the future so as to not risk any of these sorts of things being repeated, not that I have any fear that the awful attitudes that existed at a certain time in our history have any risk of being replicated again.

I had a constituent meet with me a few years ago who was in the situation of never knowing his biological mother because he was taken from her in a circumstance within the envelope of the topic that we are discussing. He missed the chance to ever meet her. She passed away before he was able to identify her and find out who she was. The impact and effect that regrettably still had on the gentleman, who was in his seventies, were that his life was absolutely ruined by both what he endured and by the fact he would never know the pain his biological mother endured having her young newborn baby taken away from her and, no doubt, being made to feel not only the trauma and devastation of that but also the implication that she had done something wrong by being an unwed pregnant young lady. On top of the trauma of the experience of having a small little baby taken away from her, she also, no doubt, endured some kind of additional, if that could be possible, awful emotional abuse of being treated as someone who ineffectively committed some kind of crime. His experience was very touching and one I reflect on today.

I very much acknowledge former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and the fact that on this day 10 years ago she did something that was very significant and very important. Although the trauma for the victims of these horrendous practices endures for those who are still with us to this day, I know it makes a difference in trying to get some kind of comfort and solace for the horrendous trauma of that experience and that enduring suffering to at least know that a government 10 years ago was prepared to, unequivocally, completely acknowledge and take responsibility and issue an apology for those horrendous practices, which were collaborated in not just by governments but by other institutions.

The previous speaker indicated that some have been more forthcoming and taken a greater deal of responsibility perhaps than others about the role they played in that—the attitudes they were applying and therefore participating in this horrendous practice. Those attitudes hopefully are well and truly buried in the past, never to rear their ugly head again.

As someone who experienced a very happy childhood, sometimes on topics like this you think to yourself, I couldn't possibly understand the trauma and the pain of what people in this circumstance went through. I suppose all I'd conclude on is to say that, when I think of how grateful I am for the happy and loving childhood that I had, it does in some ways allow me to connect with the horror of being deprived of that. That's what happened to so many people—mothers, babies, families who never were able to be—and that's truly disgusting and appalling.

So I think we just need to, as a parliament, always take the opportunity to mark these milestones, to talk about these uncomfortable topics, because I do think it improves the way in which we will approach our decision-making as a parliament. It's important to remember and reflect on these nasty parts of our history. Hopefully the silver lining is that it improves the way in which we take into account and therefore apply our values and our morals to the decisions we make into the future.

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