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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-06-17 Daily Xml
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CHILDREN IN STATE CARE APOLOGY

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (11:04): I move:

That this parliament recognises the abuses of some of those who grew up in state care and the impact that this has had on their lives.

Only those who have been subject to this kind of abuse or neglect will ever be able to fully understand what it means to have experienced these abhorrent acts.

For many of these people, governments of any persuasion were not to be trusted. Yet many have overcome this mistrust.

You have been listened to and believed and this parliament now commits itself to righting the wrongs of the past.

We recognise that the majority of carers have been, and still are, decent honourable people who continue to open their hearts to care for vulnerable children.

We thank those South Australians for their compassion and care.

We also acknowledge that some have abused the trust placed in them as carers. They have preyed upon our children.

We acknowledge those courageous people who opened up their own wounds to ensure that we as a state could know the extent of these abuses.

We accept that some children who were placed in the care of government and church institutions suffered abuse.

We accept these children were hurt.

We accept they were hurt through no fault of their own.

We acknowledge this truth.

We acknowledge that in the past the state has not protected some of its most vulnerable.

By this apology we express regret for the pain that has been suffered by so many.

To all those who experienced abuse in state care, we are sorry.

To those who witnessed these abuses, we are sorry.

To those who were not believed when trying to report these abuses we are sorry.

For the pain shared by loved ones, husbands and wives, partners, brothers and sisters, parents and, importantly, their children, we are sorry.

We commit this parliament to be ever vigilant in its pursuit of those who abuse children.

And we commit this parliament to help people overcome this, until now, untold chapter in our state's history.

When I tabled the report of the Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry in early April, I made a commitment to the people of South Australia that there would be an apology to those who were abused as children in state care. Today this government and this parliament honours that promise.

Once the parliament has formally apologised to children who were abused in state care, we will gather in the chamber of Old Parliament House to meet with survivors. With them as our witnesses, the Minister for Families and Communities and I will join with representatives from the Anglican, Catholic, Uniting and Lutheran churches and the Salvation Army to sign a shared apology to those people. Together we represent those who should have provided the best care to children who were in need of it. Instead we accept that some of those children suffered under our care.

Today we stand together to illustrate our commitment not just to acknowledging our past but also to working together to take every reasonable step to ensure our most vulnerable children—those in state care—are protected from sexual abuse.

The findings of the Mullighan inquiry were nothing less than shocking. I commend Commissioner Mullighan and his team for their outstanding but most difficult work done well. Some 792 people came forward to the inquiry and said that they were victims of child sexual abuse. The inquiry determined that 242 of those people were children in state care at the time of their alleged abuse. As I have previously stated, these children's narratives of their abuse make sickening reading for anyone.

Victims of abuse bravely came forward to Commissioner Mullighan to lift the curtain of silence on abuse. These courageous individuals have spoken and through their actions we now know of these tragedies, but also through the telling of their stories, and the way in which those stories have been respected and honoured by Commissioner Mullighan and his team, there has undeniably been significant healing for many of these people. For instance, in his preface to the report the commissioner tells of the family of a woman who gave evidence to the inquiry. The children discussed her evidence the night she gave it and, as one child told the commissioner, 'We had always felt sorry for our mother; now we feel proud of her.' Today is mainly about that healing process. We need to show these courageous people that the government and the parliament, on behalf of all South Australians, acknowledge what they have been through and say sorry.

The fundamental importance of this apology to the survivors of abuse in state care cannot be overestimated. I again met with a group of these people recently to get an understanding of precisely what the apology would mean for them. I was told how important it is to survivors that a formal apology be offered to begin the healing process. I also heard about the anger that governments of the past of all political persuasions had not listened, and people asked why it had taken so long to be believed and acknowledged. Also, there was mention from survivors I met last night for us to acknowledge in this place those who did not survive, those who are no longer with us and who lived with terrible tragedy but were unable to tell their story or have it believed.

This apology is not only about acknowledging the past, but must also involve a commitment about the future. We must commit ourselves to doing everything we can to protect children entrusted to the state's care. As evidence of that commitment the Minister for Families and Communities will today table the government's response to the recommendations of Commissioner Mullighan's inquiry. Further evidence of our commitment to the care and welfare of our children is our recent budget, which allocates an extra $190.6 million over four years to keeping children safe. This represents the largest ever investment in protecting children in our state's history and provides the resources to enable us to carry out the inquiry's recommendations, in particular appropriately placing children in care and better supporting children in care and their carers.

We will also provide additional resources to the Guardian for Children and Young People to strengthen her role and independence as advocate for children in care and monitor of that care. We will expand the screening processes in respect of people involved in child-related work and strengthen our child safe environments. For those children in care who frequently abscond and place themselves at high risk, we will create a specialist team to provide assertive specialised therapeutic services, and we will provide for secure care.

To ensure perpetrators are brought to justice, this government has already committed an extra $2.4 million to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. We will also pilot a scheme to fast track trials involving child complainants of sexual abuse. These commitments, along with the others we table today, constitute a comprehensive package to help ensure that the horrific events that Commissioner Mullighan has uncovered do not recur. This is an important commitment to those who had the courage to speak out to Commissioner Mullighan. We have also accepted those recommendations aimed not so much at prevention but at healing. Today I make the commitment that this government will work together with survivors of abuse in care to promote the healing process. We will provide free counselling and support services to those who were sexually abused while children in state care. We will establish a task force to examine arrangements adopted in other states for redress schemes, and we will apologise to the victims of abuse in care.

In moving this apology I acknowledge that nothing any of us say here today will take back the pain these children have carried into their adult lives. Nothing that we say will be able to change the past actions, the past abuse that was experienced by some of those who were placed in state care. There is nothing to change the fact that people stood by and failed to act to prevent these tragedies from happening, but to say to the survivors of sexual abuse in state care that we believe you, that we understand the hurt done to you, that we accept our past failings and that we are sorry is a powerful step forward. Today's apology is for all of those in state care—the homies, wardies and care leavers, and those from the institutions, the orphanages and the homes. To those who are with us, those who are far away and those who sadly are no longer with us, on behalf of this parliament and previous parliaments, on behalf of this government and previous governments, I offer you this apology.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

Mr HAMILTON-SMITH (Waite—Leader of the Opposition) (11:16): In the last 16 years Australian and South Australian society has had an awakening. For decades the abuse of children in schools, in orphanages, churches and government institutions had been whispered about but swept under the carpet of social embarrassment. Then, in 1992, the ABC screened the documentary The Leaving of Liverpool, which told the story of two boys who were part of the child migration scheme and the deprivation, hardship and abuse they encountered as orphans in a strange land. What followed was an extraordinary national and international social controversy, which encouraged real-life victims to break the cone of silence that had enclosed them for nearly half a century.

By 1994 we had undeniable evidence that child sexual abuse had been a scourge amongst almost all institutions involved in the care of children whose own family lives had, for a range of reasons, broken down. For many hundreds of South Australians, many of them now in their 40s, 50s or 60s, their own childhood experiences resembled those of other children in institutional care. Many began to come forward to tell their stories. They told their stories to churches, welfare organisations, state officials and to the media, but still there were those who would not listen to these stories.

Despite a growing body of evidence, there seemed an official reluctance to admit that such horrors could be visited upon children in care. It was at this point that some of those victims decided to continue to tell their story until someone listened. We are fortunate that those victims had the courage to stand up. My first apology today is to the people of South Australia for this parliament's 10-year delay in recognising the need for self-examination of the state's own actions and responsibilities. I apologise to the victims who knocked on doors, who wrote letters and who made phone calls for a decade before their time would come. In doing so, I acknowledge the untiring efforts of many members of parliament who carried the torch for the need for a commission, a wide-ranging inquiry, and who never gave up on the cause.

In particular, I acknowledge the efforts of a former premier the Hon. Rob Kerin who spent years arguing the case for a state inquiry, and I acknowledge the retiring upper house Family First MP the Hon. Andrew Evans, who successfully moved for the lifting of the immunity from prosecution of pre-1982 sexual offenders. I acknowledge the parliament of 2004 for finally committing to an inquiry.

The process of self-examination is always difficult. You can expect to discover things that will astound you, shame you and challenge you. Retired judge Ted Mullighan pinpointed this when his interim findings included this observation:

Nothing prepared me for the foul undercurrent of society revealed in evidence to the inquiry—not my life in the community, or my work in the law as a practitioner and judge.

If nothing prepared a well-educated and experienced judicial officer for these stories, consider the impact of them on an eight, 10 or 12 year old child. Consider the impact on a child who is traumatised by the act of removal from their family and the stark institutional surroundings that replaced it. Consider the impact on the child when he or she is used, abused and then silenced. I doubt whether we can ever fully understand the searing emotional pain that these children felt. The Premier has told the house the Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry took evidence from 792 people and detailed 826 allegations involving 922 perpetrators. We may wish to consider those numbers for just a moment. They represent a mountain of human heartache.

It has been my experience in dealing with this issue in the past five years that there is one thing most important to victims of abuse. It is the one thing they have craved for decades. It is not compensation, yet they deserve it; it is not the prosecution of offenders, yet justice demands it; it is being believed. For 50 years, and more, in Australia abused children were unable to tell their story for fear of being punished, humiliated, or just ignored. To those victims who are here today, and those who could not be here, and to those victims who are no longer with us, I say this to you: we believe you, we understand you, and we apologise to you.

We also apologise to the victims' families and friends—friends of today who could never comprehend what inner demons their loved ones battled day in, day out, and year in, year out. We apologise to the parents whose children we promised to care for but, in so many cases, failed.

I told the house four years ago the tragic story of a young man in state government care. A constituent came to see me—the mother. Today I want to remind you of this story as we begin to repair the damage and find a way to stop it happening again. The mother wrote to me urging the state government to hold a royal commission into the abuse of children who were not necessarily in full-time state care but who happened to become involved in state-run programs for troubled teenagers. Her letter told how her son was abused in 1993 by a man who was at the time a church organist. On the promise of a paid opportunity to deliver junk mail, the boy's trust was cultivated and then abused. The courageous mother convinced her son to go with her to the police and the man was charged and convicted of child sexual abuse.

During the court proceedings, this man (then aged 67) admitted he had been abusing children since he was 21—that is 46 years. He was given a two-year suspended sentence. Traumatised by the experience, the teenage boy sought comfort in the health department program, Second Story Youth Centre, in the city. The mother was later told by her son that the people who ran the centre would take him to the now defunct gay nightclub the Mars Bar. Still a minor, he was introduced again to older men, drugs and alcohol abuse.

The mother felt helpless as authorities told her they could do nothing about the behaviour. This was not a mother who had neglected her son. This was a mother who had simply watched as her son became the victim of a breach of trust, firstly, by the church, and then by the state. Of this we should be ashamed.

The challenge before us is to put in place the protective mechanisms to reduce the possibility that there will be future victims. We need to do more than prosecute offenders. We need to provide a society where fewer parents face the family stresses that cause them to lose their children. We need to provide a society where parents can send their children to state-run programs confident in the knowledge that they are safe. We need to be alert to those who would prey on children they see as vulnerable.

This is a whole of government, whole of society responsibility. It includes policing and prosecution. It includes emergency, social intervention and care. It includes the encouragement of stronger and happier families. This will take time.

I acknowledge today the work of Justice Ted Mullighan and his team. Many of them have heard distressing stories as a regular part of their daily workload and then headed home to their own private lives. It is a difficult, emotional burden to carry, and I thank them for it. I acknowledge the men and women of the South Australian Police Paedophile Task Force whose job it has been to investigate the cases referred to them by Justice Mullighan. I acknowledge the men and women of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions who work to ensure the fair assessment and trial of these cases.

Our society has come a long way in 16 years. In that time, the Anglican Church, the Catholic Church and others have confronted their mistakes. They have set a path of repair, defined compensation and improved codes of conduct. This is now our task. We must rebuild the broken bridge. No longer should an abused child feel there is no-one to listen. For the victims of the 50 years that preceded the national awakening, the pain continues. No-one can replace a childhood lost; no-one can erase the memories.

On this day in 2008, let us admit to ourselves that we made a mistake. The mistake was to not listen—and now let us make this promise: we will listen. To those assembled here today, you should be proud of your actions in coming forward. Without your stories and your courage, we would not be where we are today.

The state now recognises the errors of the past. The state believes you. Today is the day we apologise to you. It is the day we plan for a safer future. It is the day we embrace the truth and move ahead together, better equipped to build a caring society. For the sake of our children, I commend the motion.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.W. Weatherill.

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