Page 5061 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 17 November 2009
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children’s plan and a new young people’s plan are based on extensive consultation with children and young people here in the ACT. These whole-of-government plans again demonstrate this government's commitment to ensuring that the voices of all children and young people in our community are heard and effectively responded to.
This government has been listening to, investing in and delivering for all of our children, all of our young people and all families in the ACT. I reiterate the sadness and regret expressed by the Chief Minister, and I support the Prime Minister and the Australian government in its commitment to acknowledging the sorrow and hurt faced by the forgotten Australians and the former child migrants.
MS LE COUTEUR (Molonglo) (10.25): I would like to briefly add my personal sorry to the statements in the Assembly today. There are a couple of people in my life who were part of this, who were in these institutions, and you can see in them even now what has happened. It has affected their lives and will continue to affect their lives. I think it is a very positive thing that we as a society, as a community, say to them that what happened was not right and that we will do our best to ensure that it does not happen again. As Ms Hunter has said, child abuse is one of the biggest problems in Australia today, and I am very pleased that we are all saying “no more”. However it is done, it hurts and it affects people forever.
MR BARR (Molonglo—Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Planning, Minister for Tourism, Sport and Recreation and Minister for Gaming and Racing) (10.26): I would like to rise in support of the Chief Minster’s motion and to commend other members, particularly Ms Le Couteur, for their contributions and to acknowledge the Prime Minister’s national apology to the forgotten Australians and former child migrants.
This is a significant occasion. It is a time for healing, a time for reflection, and it is a moment when we come together as a community. As a community, we take a collective responsibility for past injustices. It is the time to take collective responsibility for the pain, for the suffering and for the wrongs which have occurred in our nation’s history. Yesterday the Australian government made a heartfelt apology to the forgotten Australians and former child migrants. The ACT government has recognised these injustices of the past, but it is very important that we take this opportunity today to say to those who have never known their families and those who were placed in situations of hardship, of poverty and of vulnerability that we are sorry. We are sorry for the powerlessness you have experienced. We are sorry for the lack of love in your childhoods, and we are sorry for the pain, the shame and the suffering.
Today we reflect on the past. We remember the history of suffering and pain. But if there is just one glimmer of hope for the forgotten Australians and child migrants, it is that their experiences and the lessons that we have learnt from them will not be forgotten and that as a nation we have learnt from these terrible experiences. That is why we now see childhood as something to be cherished and protected. That is why, as a community, we take collective responsibility for these children. That is why, as governments, we must protect our most vulnerable through education, through early intervention and through health programs. That is why we are helping families to be more resilient and why we are providing services like child and family centres, like playgroups and like parenting networks.
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