Page 447 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 2 March 1994
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Adoption Legislation
MS ELLIS (5.39): Madam Speaker, I was chairperson of the standing committee of this place that inquired into the adoption legislation that Mr Humphries alluded to in his brief remarks. I do not wish to comment directly on the case that he brought to our attention this evening. I would like to dispute slightly one comment that he made. He expressed the hope that in the future debates such as the one that took place last year would be conducted with consideration for these sorts of people, as that may not have happened in the past.
Mr Humphries: I did not say that exactly.
MS ELLIS: I know that you did not say that precisely, Mr Humphries, but that could be construed from your comment. All I am attempting to do, in an uncontroversial fashion, is to assure you and anybody who cares to read Hansard that in no way did the committee of which I was a part consider any aspect of that legislation in other than an incredibly compassionate fashion to every participant in the adoption system. I think it is worth putting that on the record.
It was not an easy inquiry and it was not an easy debate for this Assembly. There will always be, unfortunately, exceptions similar to the one you have cited today. Some people may not be enamoured of the procedures that have been put in place. This legislature, in looking into that legislation at the time, had to make the best judgment on behalf of the majority of people who may come in contact with that sort of thing. The remarks that Mr Lamont made mirror that. I just wanted to assure the Assembly and you, Mr Humphries, that the Social Policy Committee applied every aspect of compassion that could have been applied. I thought it important to stand up and say that.
Adoption Legislation
MRS GRASSBY (5.42): Madam Speaker, I also would like to add to that. It is a sad story and I am always sorry to hear that somebody has been hurt, but I agree with Ms Ellis that the Social Policy Committee did look very carefully into this. I think that somebody who is aged 21, who is able to vote and who is able to go away and fight for their country, has the right to know certain things about themselves. I know that you are going to say that it would have been better for the parents to have told them. At 21 they are an adult. The parents should have realised when this law was passed that curiosity would cause them to want to know about their parents. There is not a person alive who has been adopted who has not wanted to know about their mother and to know why their mother gave them up.
I know quite a few people in New South Wales who were adopted. They wanted so much to find out about their mother. They had tried for months and years to find out but were blocked because of legislation. When the legislation came through one person I know, who is my age and who had had to give up a child, did not quite know how to handle it when the letter was written and the child wanted to know. She did not know whether she would see the person. She said, "I did not know how I would handle this". It was under
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