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On 16 November 2009, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally apologised to the 'forgotten Australians' – children who were placed into State care between the 1930's and 1970's, and who suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse whilst in care. It is estimated that this equates to around 500,000 people.
The children in care were a variety of those whose families separated, who had unwed mothers, who were considered difficult, or who were child migrants from England.
Many victims and advocacy groups have been lobbying for this apology since 2004, when it was recommended by a senate inquiry.
The Prime Minister addressed his speech to around 1,000 victims of abuse, who were in attendance at the Great Hall of Parliament House:
'…we come together today to offer our nation's apology.
'To say to you, the Forgotten Australians, and those who were sent to our shores as children without your consent, that we are sorry. Sorry – that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused. Sorry – for the physical suffering, the emotional starvation and the cold absence of love, of tenderness, of care … Sorry – for all these injustices to you, as children, who were placed in our care.
'We acknowledge the particular pain of children shipped to Australia as child migrants - robbed of your families, robbed of your homeland, regarded not as innocent children but regarded instead as a source of child labour.
'To those of you who were told you were orphans, brought here without your parents' knowledge or consent, we acknowledge the lies you were told, the lies told to your mothers and fathers, and the pain these lies have caused for a lifetime.'
The Prime Minister went on to mention that there are nearly 30,000 children currently in care in Australia, and that Governments must ensure they are working to reduce the risk of such abuses, now and into the future.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is set to make an apology for sending nearly 130,000 children to Australia and other former colonies.
Victims of the abuse will not be formally compensated, however they will receive special assistance in old age, and a national 'find and connect' service will be established to help victims find and reconnect with their families.
Prime Minister Rudd said the apology was a chance for Australia to confront these issues and make a change:
'For the Australian-born care leavers, or 'Homies' or 'State Wards' or the 'Foster kids', the Senate named you the 'Forgotten Australians.
'Today, and from this day forward, it is my hope that you will be called the 'Remembered Australians.
'However, whatever I might say today, the truth is, I cannot give you back your childhood. I cannot rewind the clock on your suffering. Nor can I erase the past.
'But what I can do with you is celebrate the spirit that has lived within you over the decades. A spirit that has stubbornly refused to be beaten ... The spirit that enabled you to bring up families, despite the broken families from which you came … And the spirit that caused you to hold fast that one day you would be heard, one day you would be believed, one day you would be acknowledged. And that, one day, Australia's sense of a fair-go would finally prevail. That our fair go would be extended to you, and that the nation would offer you the public apology that you deserve.
'My message to you today is that that day has finally come.'
Read the full transcript of the Prime Minister's apology to the forgotten Australians.
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