Wednesday, 6 March 2024

Motions

Apology for past care leavers

Debate resumed on motion of Natalie Hutchins:

That this house takes note of the parliamentary apology to Victorians who experienced historical abuse and neglect as children in institutional care.

Vicki WARD (Eltham – Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Minister for Employment) (18:07): Acting Speaker Walters, it is great to see you in the chair. What a terrific job I reckon you will be doing, too. Look, you see? He is smiling; he agrees with me.

I am very grateful to be speaking on this motion today. I acknowledge and I apologise to the many adults who as children experienced historical abuse in institutional care in this state. I thank the Premier for her honest and inclusive apology that showed care and respect for those Victorians, for her commitment and for her thought and her consideration that she put into her speech. I join the Premier in her apology, and I say sorry to all Victorians who were historically abused, neglected or mistreated in historical care in this state before 1990.

This is a shameful part of our history, and it is a history that is hard to face. It is hard to face hurtful and ugly truths, but we need to, and we need to respectfully acknowledge what those Victorians endured and how it affected their adult lives. We know that this motion is not a magic salve. We know that it will not wipe away this history or erase the hurt that was caused. It does, I hope, send a message that we know and that we do understand the hurt that was caused – we do know what that hurt meant and what it cost. I do hope that with this motion our apology is accepted by those Victorians who were hurt in our care and that it pays respect to those Victorians who are no longer with us.

For most Victorians home is where we should be safe. Home is more than a building; it should be a refuge and it should be a sanctuary. We know that home for these children was not safe; it was not a refuge and it was not a sanctuary by any means. These government institutions were far from being a home.

We have heard stories of the careless cruelty, the often intentional cruelty, and the shameful behaviour of those who turned a blind eye, who moved away, who turned their back, who should have acted and who should have stepped in to protect these children. We have heard stories of a government that chose to remove children from their homes or from homes of families struggling to make ends meet and single mums trying to keep their families together.

Acting Speaker, with your indulgence, I will talk about my nan, June Prendergast, who was a single parent in the 1960s raising three girls on her own – with the help of government; with public housing and on the deserted wives pension. But the burden that my nan carried, one of the many burdens, was continuing to ensure that her house and everything in it was pristine when the government came around to visit – when the government came to look in her drawers to see if there were men’s clothes in there, when the government came to look in her cupboards to see what was there to feed children, when the government came to check the rubbish bins to see what was in there and to see if there was any evidence of men that might have been around. This fear of losing my mum and her sisters never left my nan.

My nan lived with Parkinson’s for many years as she grew older, and unfortunately she also had Lewy body dementia. So when she was in care it became apparent to us how this fear never left her, because in her dementia she was calling out for her girls and trying to make sure that her girls were not taken away from her. That fear that she had was because of government behaviour – it never left her. She was lucky that she was able to keep her girls with her, and my heart absolutely breaks for those families whose children were not able to stay with them. The pain that my nan had just from that fear – imagine the pain that is with you when that fear is realised and your children are taken from you. It is just horrendous.

A government who was assuming responsibility for those children completely failed to protect those children – completely failed to show those children love. To those survivors who have felt shame because of these careless, heartless actions of cruelty, I am sorry – but we, not you, should carry your shame. The shame is ours and the shame sits on our shoulders and on the shoulders of governments before us, every single one of them. Our government has said sorry, and we mean it. On behalf of our government and the governments before us, we apologised to the children and the families we failed. So much was taken from these children and their families: we took their childhood, we took their sense of self and their identities, their playfulness, their joy, their happiness. We failed to prepare those people for what the future could bring – those opportunities that could be there for them, that joy that could be there for them.

We raise our children to face the world, and we prepare them for wherever their future can take them. We raise them to be resilient, we raise them to have expectations and we raise them to be confident and to be healthy. We are supposed to invest in them and we are supposed to nurture them, but these children did not have that, and it was owed to them – a government owes it to their children. The future they should have had was taken from them. We should have supported them to find a world ready to embrace their dreams and their potential. We should have created a platform for them to springboard into the world with confidence, feeling supported, feeling that they could be whoever they wanted to be, not feeling that they had to find corners of the world in which to try and repair themselves. They were given trauma, abuse and neglect. They entered the world without the things that so many of us take for granted. The day-to-day ordinary tasks of adulthood must have felt extraordinary and overwhelming for a young adult who was not prepared.

What we now know about the abuse, the neglect and the mistreatment is unimaginable. And I know – we all know – some of it is unspeakable. This motion gives a voice to those who were kept quiet for far too long. It gives a voice to those who are no longer with us, and it gives a voice to those who draw strength in the face of adversity and have risen up. It gives a voice to those who fought against a system designed to dehumanise, a system designed to break their will, because after all many of them were just poor kids – what did they matter?

I absolutely have the utmost respect and admiration for those Victorians who were able to step up and tell their stories, who were able to share. Exposing that much vulnerability, exposing yourself as somebody who has been treated badly, is incredibly hard. It is incredibly difficult to expose that vulnerability. I absolutely pay my respect to them for being able to do so, for having that inner strength to be able to tell their stories.

I am glad that they have demanded recognition. I am glad that they have been able to be strong enough to allow us to apologise to them. I thank them for the privilege of allowing us to apologise to them, and to those who have accepted our apology I say thank you. I thank them for sharing their stories so that every Victorian child who experienced this abuse, this neglect and this mistreatment can be acknowledged. I thank those people for allowing us into their lives and I thank them for listening to our apology.

Annabelle CLEELAND (Euroa) (18:16): I am pleased to rise today to talk on the take-note motion for the Victorians who experienced historical abuse and neglect as children in institutional care. First and foremost, I want to express my deepest apologies and condolences to those who suffered at the hands of this state. The stories shared with us are truly horrific, and I wish anyone that suffered my sincere support as they continue the difficult process of recovering and healing from this trauma.

While expressing this apology, I want to acknowledge that an apology is just an initial step towards making genuine and meaningful change to our systems and for the people who suffered and continue to suffer within them. Proper change within our state-run services must be achieved to ensure the vicious cycles of foster care, abuse and a lack of opportunity are no longer allowed to continue.

I have been having regular conversations with a constituent of mine named Crystal Challender, someone who is incredibly resilient and one of the strongest, most determined mothers I have had the privilege to meet in this role. Crystal has courageously asked me to share her story today. Crystal is a single mother to Leroy, nine, and Shaleigh, seven, residing in Benalla. They have been on the priority housing waitlist for 12 months, requesting relocation within Benalla to non-condensed government housing.

I raised this concern with the Minister for Housing and on 3 November spoke with the minister’s chief of staff in an attempt to urgently resolve Crystal’s housing situation. In October her son Leroy witnessed a teenage neighbour fatally assault a resident in the housing area on Ballintine Street, Benalla. Meanwhile these teenage perpetrators have been acquitted and still reside in the housing area.

Crystal, along with her sisters, have been in state care at times and have been working so incredibly hard to not repeat history. On the day of the apology Crystal Challender, whose mother was a ward of the state, received a call from the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing regarding the future custody of her children. They had spent two weeks with their father because Crystal, bravely, voluntarily admitted herself into hospital due to mental health challenges. The housing insecurity is becoming overwhelming for her. Today she told me:

I would never have had children if I had known that I would be fighting the government to survive as their mother.

My mum went through this in care, and my fear is, I will be in the same position trying to defend my grandchildren.

When they talk about generational trauma and poverty, they just need to look at me.

I may have fallen through the cracks, but every day it feels like this government is holding me there.

I don’t know how to break the cycle if I don’t have a safe place for my kids to live.

Her son Leroy has been awaiting an appointment with the school psychologist since experiencing PTSD from witnessing the fatal incident. He has been redirected to Gateway Health. On 1 December he was then referred to Victims of Crime, but they have not been able to reach anyone. Crystal is currently seeing someone at one of the new local mental health set-ups in Benalla, but her son is only nine years old, so he is ineligible for financially supported mental health care. Crystal says:

I want to change this history for my children.

Acknowledging the serious crimes, abuse and institutional failures of our state is critical, and I hope that it does provide some respite to those who suffered at the state’s institutions.

After reading the reports from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse into the locations of this abuse it was harrowing to hear survivors talk about the fears that came with living in these facilities, particularly those located regionally. A fear of disappearing was held by children living in isolated regional and remote residential institutions as they regularly witnessed other children, pregnant women and more taken away, often never to be seen again.

Unfortunately, this story, Crystal’s story, is a testament to the ongoing issues within our state-run services and the significant amount of work that is still required. There are so many stories just like this one right across our state. I look forward to seeing more work being done in the near future to ensure that our apologies are more than just talk.

Mary-Anne THOMAS (Macedon – Leader of the House, Minister for Health, Minister for Health Infrastructure, Minister for Ambulance Services) (18:21): It is indeed a privilege to rise in this place to speak to the take-note motion for the care leavers apology. I want to begin of course by acknowledging survivors across Victoria, who have so bravely told their stories on so many occasions to get us to this place and for this house to come together in the way that we did a few short weeks ago to apologise for the great injustices of the past. I too would like to offer my personal apology to all Victorians who have experienced historical abuse and neglect as children in institutional care. More than 90,000 Victorian children were placed in care between 1928 and 1990, many of whom, as we know, suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect.

For the grief of being removed from their parents and the years spent fighting to find their families, sometimes in vain, I join others in the house in expressing my sorrow. When I reflect on the day and the survivors that I spoke to on that day, I was taken in Queen’s Hall by the looks on the faces of the people who were gathered. Their trauma was writ large on their faces. We only had to look and speak with the people who bravely came in to join us on that day to see that the pain and the suffering of the institutional trauma that they had experienced lived with them throughout their lives. It is a very brave thing indeed to live with that pain and trauma and then come into a Parliament and put your trust in a government again to do the right thing by you. That is where an apology is so powerful.

An apology is about, I think, this institution and the people that run it – the Premier, the Leader of the Opposition, the Leader of the Greens political party – being humble before the people of Victoria who have been harmed by actions of the state. We cannot erase the past, but we must acknowledge the damage done and we must always strive to do better and work to heal the hurt that has been caused at the hands of the state. We can and must recognise the pain and suffering and the hurt that survivors carry, and we must commit to a redress scheme that truly listens to those who have experienced this abuse.

I want to thank the Premier for her heartfelt apology on behalf of the Parliament, and I also want to note the Premier’s acknowledgement that much of state care and much of the care system was founded upon deeply rooted classism within our society. What we saw, and why we had 90,000 children being brought up in institutional care, was arrogance of the state – a belief that somehow the government, the state, could do better at raising children than their parents could themselves.

One of the things that this government knows and that we are working to implement through initiatives like our early parenting centres is to ensure that every parent has the opportunity to be the parent they want to be – that is, to be supported to achieve their parenting goals, to form loving attachments with their children and to have the resources to care for them.

Poverty is not a crime, and yet it was treated as such, and indeed it continues to be in some quarters. The fact that children were not able to have the clothing, the food or the care perhaps that they needed at that time is no reason to remove them from their families. We need to wrap around children in this situation and their families to support parents to care for their children in their own homes. That seems and sounds like a very simple proposition, but it would appear that it is one that governments have struggled with over many decades to actually implement. So I stand here as a person absolutely committed to doing everything that we can as part of a Labor government to support families, to support parents and to support children living in poverty to recognise that that is not their fault or the fault of their family but is deeply rooted in inequitable structures that exist within our society.

Classism, the Premier spoke about. Sexism and racism also obviously impacted the opportunities that were provided to children in care. One of the greatest concerns is that institutional care took away children’s curiosity, opportunities and capacity to dream of a better future and life for themselves. That is what institutional care was designed to do, and in so many cases it succeeded. We have much to learn from being humble in the face of the stories of people who have been so terribly treated by the state. It is only when we act with that humility I think that we can work to change. Again, the challenge to all of us is not to assume because we are elected members of Parliament or because we get to attain positions of power and influence that we know best. We must always listen to the communities that we represent. We must reach out and listen to those who are most disadvantaged, those that do not have a voice, and make sure that we use the opportunities that we have as people in this place. I speak in particular to my government colleagues. When we have that great gift of government, we must take the opportunity every day to use its power for good and to transform the lives of children who still in our state live in disadvantage or marginalised circumstances.

Again reflecting back on how important that take-note motion was, I want to take this opportunity to reflect on the times that I have had the great honour of meeting with Leonie Sheedy. Leonie is quite an extraordinary woman – a care leaver herself and a person who was treated terribly at the hands of the nuns in Geelong. She is a woman who has devoted her life to stripping away the shame and stigma that was associated with being one of the care leavers or the forgotten Australians, a child that was brought up in an orphanage, to make sure that people felt empowered to tell their stories, because stories matter and stories will influence government and create policy change. That is what Leonie has done. She is quite an extraordinary woman.

Darren Cheeseman interjected.

Mary-Anne THOMAS: The member for South Barwon reminds me that Leonie in fact in her advocacy was critical to the apology to the forgotten Australians in the federal Parliament some number of years ago now and indeed the apology here in this place but also to the establishment of the Australian Orphanage Museum in Geelong, an aspiration for a long time of Leonie’s and one that was able to come to realisation with a grant of $2 million, I think, from the federal Labor government.

I am very privileged, as I said, to be able to speak on this motion today and again express my sorrow and say sorry to those vulnerable Victorians, children, who have been irreparably damaged by policies of this state. We must do better, we can do better and the Allan Labor government will do better.

Bronwyn HALFPENNY (Thomastown) (18:31): I would like to give my voice to the Victorian apology to children who were supposed to be cared for by the state, children that were often forcibly removed from their families to supposedly be cared for better in a so-called children’s home. A children’s home – it sounds like a nice place, a nurturing place, but in fact they were houses of horror, often brutal, humiliating, cruel and vicious, stifling all aspirations, hope and development. We are acknowledging and apologising to Victorians who experienced historical abuse and neglect as children in institutional care, including of course rampant criminal abuse but also the denial of basic things such as education and teaching children how to read and write. And while this apology refers to historical abuse, we all know that the effects of such abuse are not historical – they are lifelong, and in many cases they have cut lives short.

I want to acknowledge leaders that I know that have driven the fight for justice and acknowledgement from government: Leonie Sheedy, who has been referred to in other members’ contributions, from the Care Leavers Australasia Network (CLAN); and also closer to my home, Alf and Bev, residents of the Thomastown electorate who have fought for their rights and the rights of all children to be safe. I know there have been many others who have worked and fought for justice, but these are the individuals that I know most.

My grandmother was in an orphanage for a short time. Her parents were migrants and had no childcare back-up. Her mother was gravely ill in hospital, and her father had no choice but to put them in care because he needed to keep his job – no carer’s leave in those days. She never spoke of it, and we can only wonder of her experience, although it was probably lucky that her father was allowed to visit her every weekend, and she was only in there for a couple of months.

But the proper acknowledgement and apology for children in state care until now has been a missing piece in the tragedy of institutional abuse for children, and I say this and explain it by going back to 2011. In 2011 the then Liberal state government referred a reference to the Family and Community Development Committee to inquire into the handling of child abuse by religious and other non-government organisations. I commend the Baillieu government for its courage at this time, because it was courage. I and Frank McGuire, as newly elected MPs, had been appointed to this committee prior to the reference. We were the two opposition members on it, and the committee received many submissions both in writing and in person and heard the most harrowing personal accounts of the crimes against children. It was in these hearings it became obvious to us that the reference only to religious and non-government institutions was too narrow and denied justice to those in state care and did not scrutinise the role of the state that had in effect given children to these religious and non-government institutions. But in doing so, as an ultimate failure of the children, the Betrayal of Trust report found that there appears to have been either limited or no state monitoring of these places, and the committee was informed of an example of a child being physically assaulted by a police officer when apprehended, having run away from care. The child told the police officer of the abuse, which resulted in the beating by the police, and then they were returned to the institution. This is just one example from the CLAN submission. As a member of the Victorian Allan Labor government, I am deeply sorry and very, very angry.

During the Betrayal of Trust inquiry we heard many examples of individuals telling people in authority ‍– elected representatives, police, church leaders, department representatives – about what had happened to them and what was happening to them, and it seems at the time of the offending not one adult bothered to inquire, investigate or check. This is truly astounding, and I hope that this apology unanimously endorsed by the Victorian Parliament means that we will all be vigilant and we will never dismiss allegations no matter how horrific and no matter how shocking, because they might actually be true.

Michaela SETTLE (Eureka) (18:35): I would just like to begin by acknowledging that the content of this debate might be distressing for some people. If people are watching online, understand that this is a difficult conversation that we are having.

I am absolutely compelled to rise to speak on this take-note motion on the historic apology by this government to survivors of historic abuse in institutional care as so many people in my community have been affected by it and one sees those effects that go on, sadly, through generations. I am very proud of the care and consideration with which our Premier delivered her apology on our behalf, and I join her in offering an unreserved apology to those children who were abused and neglected during their time in care. As wards of state the children had the right to be protected by the state, and we failed them, and for that we are sorry. It is estimated that more than 90,000 children were placed in care in Victoria prior to 1990, many of whom experienced physical, psychological, emotional and sexual abuse. The Victorian government committed to making the apology following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The scars from those dark times run deep and are still obvious in my community in Ballarat. Ballarat was home to two large orphanages: the Ballarat Orphanage, which was initially known as the Orphan Asylum, and Nazareth House. Nazareth House was opened in December 1888, and it was to care for girls aged between six and 16. Nazareth House discontinued the care of children from 1976, and it is now an aged care facility. The Orphan Asylum opened in 1865 on Victoria Street in Ballarat. It became the Ballarat Orphanage in 1909 and finally Ballarat Children’s Home from 1968 until finally closing in 1984. It is now the site of my local IGA. When the site was being developed there was a wall that sat around the block where the orphanage had stood, and people from within the community were determined to protect that wall so that we would never forget what happened between those walls.

The Ballarat Orphanage is a large two-storey Gothic-style building dating back to 1865. In his submission to Forgotten Australians, Frank Golding tells us of his first reactions to the imposing buildings:

I snatched at each shaft of the iron fence as the policeman pulled us towards the great double gate. The gravel crunched under our feet as we drew near the dark-red building. Looking up to the balcony on the second floor, Billy read to us the cast iron words ‘ORPHAN ASYLUM 1865’. This was a grim place, this Ballarat Orphanage. Solid, like a fortress.

Ballarat Orphanage was the new name given in 1909 to the former asylum, and it accommodated boys and girls from around Victoria aged between four and 16. As I said, finally in 1968 the name changed to the Ballarat Children’s Home.

The Ballarat Orphanage accommodated a large number of Aboriginal and Koori children, many of them having been removed from their families in western Victoria. The importance of the institution to Indigenous people is recognised by the former site of the orphanage’s inclusion on the Ballarat Koorie Heritage Trail. Murray Harrison, a Wotjobaluk man originally from Dimboola, and two of his sisters were removed from their family in Bruthen in Gippsland and sent initially to the depot at Royal Park and then to the Ballarat Orphanage.

I have the honour of knowing Uncle Murray and have met with him many times. I am always struck by his generosity of spirit. He talks about the love of his wife, who changed his life, and he continues to work tirelessly in our community to raise awareness of the stolen generation. When the Premier offered the apology in this place I was pleased to see Alan Harris in the gallery. He too lived in institutional care in Ballarat. Again, I am struck by his warm and compassionate nature. That these men continue to show love and generosity in the community is testament to their courage and strength.

In 2002, 14 former state wards filed a lawsuit against the government of the state of Victoria, alleging a systematic campaign of cruelty, physical beatings and sexual abuse at the hands of some Ballarat orphanage staff members, particularly in 1963 and 1964. But those charges that were filed against the then 88-year-old former superintendent of Ballarat orphanage were withdrawn by the Director of Public Prosecutions due to his age. But in 2021 a very good journalist with the ABC in Ballarat, Charlotte King, whose work I admire enormously, discovered credible allegations of abuse by Sedgman, who was the superintendent in 1964. She reported that in an investigative program, Background Briefing.

In 1998 the organisation became Child and Family Services Ballarat Inc. I would like to stop here for a moment to acknowledge the extraordinarily good work of that organisation, CAFS. They have never shied away from the dark history of the organisation, and they work tirelessly to support children and young people and families in our community. They support over 7000 people a year in our region. I just want to acknowledge that CAFS do extraordinary work, and in no way do I include them in the atrocities that have gone on before.

The Victorian government committed to making the apology following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Words can carry a lot of weight, and certainly no more than these: we are sorry, we hear you, we see you. But they must also be followed by action. The government is working to roll out a redress scheme first flagged in 2022, and the scheme will cover historical abuse cases from 1928 until 1990, during which, as I have said, 90,000 Victorian children were placed in care. The government has committed $7.5 million to create the redress scheme for people who experienced child abuse and neglect while in care, and there are advance payments of $10,000 for people who were abused or neglected in care while that program is being delivered. We acknowledge that many people have suffered for a lifetime and many are ageing, and that support is there for them as the redress scheme is being developed.

I would also like to acknowledge the good work of the services and supports that exist for Victorians who were in institutional care. Many in this place have today talked about the great work of Open Place, which is a specialised statewide support service for pre-1990 care leavers. They provide a whole range of services, including counselling, promotion of family and community connectedness and financial health and practical needs, but also access to records and searching for family. They provide an extraordinary support, and so does Care Leavers Australasia Network, which is our national independent peak body that represents and advocates for pre-1990 care leavers. Again, they offer counselling and assistance with locating family members, social get-togethers and advocacy and referrals.

But for every dollar of compensation that we can make, we can never change this terrible stain on our history. Children who should have been protected were subject to abuse and neglect. I hope that this apology will offer some solace – that we know we let you down, that we are very sorry. We understand that institutional care took away, for many, bright futures that children dream of. We deprived them even of the opportunity to learn to read and write. We must make sure that this never happens again. As the previous minister said, we must listen to the voices in our community. We must trust survivors when they speak to us. We must make sure that it never happens again. Finally, what I would like to say is: thank you to all of those brave, brave souls who came forward to tell us their experience, to tell us what they went through, because it was their voices that have made this apology a reality. So I thank them, and again I say: we are sorry.

Alison MARCHANT (Bellarine) (18:45): I rise to speak on the parliamentary apology to Victorians who experienced historical abuse and neglect as children in institutional care. Growing up in Geelong I was very fortunate to have a loving family, a roof over my head, parents who had employment, food on the table and security. Little did I know at the time that Geelong in particular had a very dark history where children did not have that security and care of a stable environment.

It was when I was working in a federal government as an electorate officer that I met Leonie Sheedy ‍– she has been spoken about in this place – at an organisation called CLAN, the Care Leavers Australasia Network. After meeting Leonie, it was like she had grabbed my shoulders or jolted me and awakened me to a chapter in our Geelong history, a place I have lived in my whole life yet where a reality existed that I remained blissfully ignorant about. It was from Leonie that I learned about the large amount of orphanages that were established in the Geelong region, a greater number than any other city in Australia outside a capital city.

I then visited the Australian Orphanage Museum that CLAN had established. I have visited a couple of times now, and I learn something new each time. I can only encourage people to go to the museum. It is based in Geelong, but it is very much a national museum with a national story. When you visit there you experience and learn the stories of children who grew up in institutions under the care of people who were meant to look after them. The museum is a poignant journey into that national narrative of suffering but resilience. These children entrusted to caregivers who instead inflicted cruelty and betrayal demanded to be heard. The museum is a unique experience, documenting in exhibitions authentic social history about the experiences of growing up in orphanages, in homes or in missions or other institutions, including foster care, in Australia.

The museum was established by care leavers for care leavers. That is their history that is visible now to all Australians. The collection contains hundreds of items from homes, and every object in that museum has a story to tell. I must say that visitors will be confronted by the stories, but the museum aims to raise awareness about the abuse, neglect and trauma these children suffered while being a place to learn and to understand. It is important for us as visitors to, while learning, be open and listen. I thank the CLAN volunteers and their team for their tireless work not only at the museum but through their continued advocacy. Through this museum your stories are being told, and with them your experiences are out of the dark.

But how did CLAN form? It started over 30 years ago with another extraordinary woman named Dr Joanna Penglase, who had put an ad in the local paper. She was doing a thesis at university and reached out to people like her who had grown up in homes and institutions and orphanages, asking for people to ring her to tell their stories. Well, a lot of people rang, and one of those people who did pick up the phone and ring Joanna was Leonie Sheedy. It was a phone call that changed both their lives. Together they established CLAN – dedicated to fighting for recognition, fighting for justice, fighting for an apology and fighting for compensation. Over those years they have fought. They fought for a Senate inquiry into children in institutional care, they fought for an apology from the Prime Minister, and they fought for the federal government’s royal commission. And make no mistake, Leonie is still fighting today.

With that continued advocacy from CLAN, forgotten Australians and care leavers here in Victoria this year, on 8 February, received that formal parliamentary apology to Victorians who experienced historical abuse and neglect as children in institutional care, from the Premier.

This apology was the Victorian Parliament’s opportunity to formally recognise and apologise for the wrongdoings committed against children. Children through no fault of their own had suffered. To those who endured unspeakable horrors, we extend our sincere apologies, although we know words alone cannot heal wounds so deep. To quote the Premier:

To those children, who were abused and neglected during their time in care, we humbly and unreservedly apologise.

…

For the grief of being removed from your parents, often without explanation – and the years spent fighting to find your family, sometimes in vain.

To those who died without getting the respect or recognition they deserved.

To the children who lost their lives while in the guardianship of the state, whose voices were silenced forever.

And to the families who were broken, permanently.

We failed you. For this, we are deeply sorry.

I thank the Premier for her heartfelt apology on behalf of the Parliament to those who suffered the unimaginable harm at the hands of the state. An apology was long overdue. To those Victorians who suffered: I too am sorry.

Reflecting on this momentous apology, though, I am humbled by the courage displayed by survivors braving that emotional storm to bear witness. The scars, both seen and unseen, serve as a constant reminder of the systematic failures that robbed them of their innocence and security. And I want to acknowledge those who died without witnessing recognition or justice for what happened. It is tragic that they had not been heard.

In reflecting also on that day I must say it was an emotional day for many of us as members of Parliament, but that it was nothing compared to the emotional toll and the courage needed by survivors to come here and to hear the apology. To sit here in the gallery or to watch in Queen’s Hall, to watch online or to go to a streamed venue takes enormous courage. After the apology I walked through Queen’s Hall and spoke to a few of those familiar faces from the Geelong region. For them, they shared how much the day meant and how much that apology meant to them. One reflected on his own family, on those who had passed, and what this day would have meant for them. I am always struck by the resilience of individuals.

But apologies, however heartfelt, are only the first step, and we owe it to those who have suffered to take tangible action – to ensure that voices are not just heard but amplified – and we must heed the guidance of organisations like CLAN, Open Place, Alliance for Forgotten Australians and others, offering solace and advocating for justice. The scars of the past should serve as a constant reminder of our collective responsibility to foster healing and prevent such atrocities from happening ever again. Together we must continue to advocate for justice and provide support to those affected by historical abuse and neglect, ensuring that their stories are never forgotten.

It has been a long journey for many. As described, in 2009 a formal apology was given by the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, and in 2013 the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse was instituted by the Gillard government. The final report handed down by the royal commission stated:

Victims and survivors of child sexual abuse, and those who represent and support them, had advocated consistently for government action.

…

For victims and survivors, telling their stories has required great courage and determination.

…

It is now apparent that across many decades, many of society’s institutions failed our children.

It went on to say:

It is the responsibility of our entire community to acknowledge that children are vulnerable to abuse. We must ‍… resolve … what we can to protect them. The tragic impact of abuse for individuals and through them our entire society demands nothing less.

I could not agree more. The 2009 national apology was also a significant moment, and when it was delivered it was hoped that it would offer individuals validation by ensuring that their stories were heard and believed and promoted emotional and psychological healing. I really hope that the Victorian parliamentary apology earlier this year offers the same, in that it is healing from that dark past.

Luba GRIGOROVITCH (Kororoit) (18:55): I am deeply humbled and privileged to take note of this Parliament’s apology to Victorians who experienced historical abuse or neglect as children in institutional care, which was delivered by the Premier on Thursday 8 February in this place. I wish to acknowledge any survivors or their loved ones who may be in the gallery or watching online today. On my own behalf, as the member for Kororoit, I say to those children who were abused or neglected during their time in care, I am sorry. For the grief of being removed from your parents or loved ones, I am sorry. To the children who lost their lives while in the guardianship of the state, I am sorry. And to the families who were broken, I am sorry. This is an apology which I make without qualification. Thursday 8 February was certainly a day in this place that I will never forget. On behalf of this Parliament and every Parliament of Victoria before it, the Premier moved a historic apology for past care leavers. Let me say that I am conscious that many of the survivors of this institutional harm we are discussing reject the term ‘care leavers’ being applied to them. They may simply wish to be known as survivors, and I fully respect that.

To continue, as I looked over the public gallery in this place that morning I was truly awestruck by the presence of the survivors and their loved ones and carers who had joined us here on that day. As the Premier delivered this Parliament’s apology, and as she was joined by the Leader of the Opposition and the Greens, I watched the people in the gallery go through a full range of human emotions before us. I saw on people’s faces sorrow and hurt that morning, but I also saw glee. At some stages that morning the people in the gallery were smiling. At other points they were crying. When we remember that 90,000 is the number of Victorian children who between 1928 and 1990 were placed in so-called care by the state, those people in the gallery must have represented only a small fraction of these survivors. Their individuality was no less for that, and yet in the range of emotions and in the basic dignity that was on display it was as if these people were here not just as themselves. It was as if they were radiating the lives of all survivors of their common experience – those 90,000 souls, both living and no longer living, the people who are still here with us today and those from the past generations as well. And that is the beautiful thing about humans. It was the rawest and the best of humanity. It was an experience that brought a tear to my eye, and as I said earlier, it is one that I will never forget.

There was another reason why it moved me so deeply. As I looked across the public gallery, I was equally struck by the number of disabled people and their carers that were here. It moved me because of my uncle Ken, and I have already spoken a little about Uncle Ken and my family upbringing in my inaugural speech in this place. Uncle Ken is my mother’s younger brother. He has been a part of my and my brother Robbie’s lives for as long as I can remember, just like my mum has. Growing up, Uncle Ken was always our biggest fan. He would be cheering us on at basketball games, and he would always be there to support us at home. Uncle Ken was born with a disability. Ever since he was born he needed 12 or more pills a day just to keep him going, and his first carer was our nanna. After she died, Mum took over. When Uncle Ken was in his 30s the doctor told us – I was there, and I will never forget this – that because of the amount of substances going into Uncle Ken’s body he would not possibly live past the age of 40. Our doctor told us to cherish every moment with him. Uncle Ken was there, and he heard all of this that day. And can I tell you all here, Uncle Ken is turning 71 next Tuesday ‍– he has not gone anywhere. I am so blessed to have my uncle Kenny in my life, because he has taught me to see the person and not the disability. Uncle Ken has lived life his way, and we are all so proud of him for it. He is the gentlest of all souls, and while we gave him a home, it was he who was always healing us.

My brother and I shared the caring responsibilities for Uncle Ken with Mum as we were growing up. After we moved out, Mum became his sole carer. He and Mum now live together in a retirement village, and Uncle Ken has a part-time carer who comes in a few days a week. The incredible support that Uncle Ken’s amazing carer provides him, along with my mum, has only given me an even fonder appreciation for all carers. If it were not for Uncle Ken’s carer –

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I am required under sessional orders to interrupt business now, and the member may continue their speech when the matter returns to the house.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.