Lotus Times www.lotusplace.org.au • Queensland • SPECIAL EDITION | NOVEMBER 2018 Lotus Times is published in collaboration with The Special Edition Historical Abuse Network which works collaboratively with people who experienced abuse and neglect in The National Apology to Victims and Survivors of institutions, foster care and detention centres. We Institutional Child Sexual Abuse as presented by Prime acknowledge their courage as they move from adversity Minister of Australia Scott Morrison and Leader of the to hope in seeking public recognition, justice and redress. Opposition Bill Shorten. A National Apology. On 12 November 2012 Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced a Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Childhood Sexual Abuse… “Today I have announced that I will be I believe a Royal Commission is the best recommending to the Governor-General way to do this. the establishment of a Royal Commission into institutional responses to instances … I commend the victims involved for and allegations of child sexual abuse in having the courage to speak out. Australia. I believe we must do everything we can to The allegations that have come to light make sure that what has happened in the recently about child sexual abuse have past is never allowed to happen again,” been heartbreaking. – PM Julia Gillard. These are insidious, evil acts to which no child should be subject. The individuals concerned deserve the Almost six years later, after an extensive most thorough of investigations into the Royal Commission, Prime Minister wrongs that have been committed against of Australia Scott Morrison and Leader them. of the Opposition Bill Shorten joined in Parliament to make a formal National They deserve to have their voices heard Apology to Victims and Survivors of and their claims investigated. Institutional Child Sexual Abuse… www.lotusplace.org.au p1 LOTUS TIMES: SPECIAL EDITION | NOVEMBER 2018 Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Apology to Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse House of Representatives, Parliament House, Canberra 22 October 2018 “Mr Speaker, let me first welcome all A sorry that dare not ask for forgiveness. As a nation, we failed them, we forsook them. That will always be our shame. those who have come here today. A sorry that dare not try and make sense of the incomprehensible or think it could. This apology is for them and their families too. Whether you sit here in this Chamber, the Great Hall, outside elsewhere in the nation’s capital. A sorry that does not insult with an incredible As one survivor recently said to me, “It wasn’t Your living room. In your bed, unable to rise promise. a foreign enemy who did this to us – this was today or speak to another soul. Your journey done by Australians.” To Australians. Enemies to where you are today has been a long and A sorry that speaks only of profound grief and in our midst. painful one, and we acknowledge that and we loss. Enemies. In. Our. Midst. welcome you today wherever you are. A sorry from a nation that seeks to reach out in Mr Speaker, silenced voices. Muffled cries in compassion into the darkness where you have The enemies of innocence. lived for so long. the darkness. Look up at the galleries, look at the Great Hall, Unacknowledged tears. The tyranny of invisible Nothing we can do now will right the wrongs look outside this place and you will see men suffering. inflicted on our nation’s children. and women from every walk of life, from every generation, and every part of our land. The never heard pleas of tortured souls Even after a comprehensive Royal Commission, bewildered by an indifference to the unthinkable which finally enabled the voices to be heard and Crushed, abused, discarded and forgotten. theft of their innocence. the silence to be broken, we will all continue to struggle. The crimes of ritual sexual abuse happened in Today, Australia confronts a trauma – an schools, churches, youth groups, scout troops, abomination – hiding in plain sight for far too So today we gather in this Chamber in humility. orphanages, foster homes, sporting clubs, group long. Not just as Representatives of the people of this homes, charities, and in family homes as well. country, but as fathers, as mothers, as siblings, Today, we confront a question too horrible to ask, friends, workmates, and in some cases, indeed It happened anywhere a predator thought they let alone answer. as victims and survivors. could get away with it, and the systems within these organisations allowed it to happen and Why weren’t the children of our nation loved, Ngunnawal means ‘meeting place’. And on this turned a blind eye. nurtured and protected? day of apology, we meet together. It happened day after day, week after week, Why was their trust betrayed? We honour every survivor in this country, we month after month, and decade after decade. love you, we hear you and we honour you. Unrelenting torment. Why did those who know cover it up? No matter if you are here at this meeting place When a child spoke up, they weren’t believed Why were the cries of children and parents or elsewhere, this apology is to you and for you. and the crimes continued with impunity. ignored? Your presence and participation makes tangible One survivor told me that when he told a teacher Why was our system of justice blind to injustice? our work today – and it gives strength to others of his abuse, that teacher then became his next Why has it taken so long to act? who are yet to share what has happened in their abuser. world. Why were other things more important than Trust broken. this, the care of innocent children? Elsewhere in this building and around Australia, there are others who are silently watching and Innocence betrayed. Why didn’t we believe? listening to these proceedings, men and women Power and position exploited for evil dark who have never told a soul what has happened crimes. Today we dare to ask these questions, and to them. To these men and women I say this finally acknowledge and confront the lost apology is for you too. A survivor named Faye told the Royal screams of our children. Commission, “Nothing takes the memories And later when the speeches are over, we will While we can’t be so vain to pretend to answers, away. It happened 53 years ago and it’s still stand in silence and remember the victims who affecting me.” we must be so humble to fall before those who are not with us anymore, many too sadly by their were forsaken and beg to them our apology. own hand. p2 www.lotusplace.org.au LOTUS TIMES: SPECIAL EDITION | NOVEMBER 2018 One survivor named Ann said, “My mother Many are survivors; they have all worked so The National Office of Child Safety is another believed them rather than me”. hard to make today a reality. big step forward to ensuring the prevention and detection of child abuse, wherever it occurs. I also met with a mother whose two daughters They said to me that an apology without action were abused by a priest the family trusted. is just a piece of paper and it is. And today they It was announced as part of our Government’s Suicide would claim one of her two beautiful also wanted to hear about our actions. response to the Royal Commission and was girls and the other lives under the crushing established from July 1 of this year within the weight of what was done to her. It is a fair call. Department of Social Services. As a father of two daughters, I can’t comprehend In outlining our actions, I want to recognise the As Prime Minister, I will be changing these the magnitude of what she has faced. work of my predecessors, former Prime Minister arrangements to ensure that the National Office Gillard, who is with us here today, and I thank of Child Safety will report to me. It will reside Not just as a father but as Prime Minister, I am you for your attendance. Former Prime Minister within the portfolio of Prime Minister and angry too at the calculating destruction of lives Rudd, the Member for Warringah, who continues Cabinet, as it should. The Minister for Social and abuse of trust, including those who have to serve us here in this place, and the former Services will assist me in this role, including abused the shield of faith and religion to hide Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull. I want to thank them reporting to me on the progress of Royal their crimes, a shield that is supposed to protect for their compassion and leadership as they also Commission recommendations and the activities the innocent, not the guilty. And they stand confronted these terrible failings. of the Office of Child Safety. condemned. The foundations of our actions are the findings The Office has already begun it’s work to raise One survivor says it was like “becoming a and recommendations of the Royal Commission, awareness of child safety and to drive cultural stranger to your parents.” initiated by Prime Minister Gillard. change in institutions in the community — Mental health illnesses, self-harm, and The steady compassionate hand of the to ensure that the systemic failures and abuses addictions followed. Commissioners and staff resulted in 17,000 of power that brought us here today are not survivors coming forward and nearly 8,000 repeated. The pain didn’t stop with adulthood. of them recounting their abuse in private Importantly, children themselves are being Relationships with partners and children became sessions of the Commission.