www.tas.greens.org.au
The Tasmanian Greens today welcomed yesterday’s national apology to the forgotten generation of Australians from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull and called on the Bartlett Government and Liberal Opposition to recognise that there is another large group of forgotten Tasmanians, the former residents of Willow Court.
Greens Health and Human Services spokesperson Cassy O’Connor MP said the experiences of those interned at Willow Court were just as tragic and harrowing as those of the Forgotten Australians yet they have not been acknowledged by way of a formal apology from the Tasmanian Parliament, and it is now high time for the word “sorry” to be said with genuine remorse and a conviction that such state-sanctioned suffering never happen again.
Ms O’Connor also highlighted the inconsistency involved in compensating former wards of the state who were abused in care while ignoring former residents of Willow Court, many of whom were also abused or neglected while in care.
“The Greens welcome yesterday’s national apology to the Forgotten Australians. We believe the Tasmanian Parliament is morally obliged to offer a similar apology to former residents of Willow Court,” said Ms O’Connor.
“The Tasmanian Parliament has already formally apologised to Tasmanians who were abused as wards of the State, and it is only fair and just that we now apologise to the former residents of Willow Court.”
“There is another generation of Tasmanian children whose stories are as tragic and harrowing as those of the Forgotten Australians and it is time for a formal apology to those former residents of Willow Court.”
“I am calling on the Bartlett Government and Liberal Opposition to join the Greens in committing to a Parliamentary apology to the former residents of Willow Court,” said Ms O’Connor.
Attached: Text of Motion tabled in Parliament by Cassy O’Connor MP today, 17 November 2009:
That the House:
1. Welcomes the Federal Parliament’s apology to the Forgotten Australians, those estimated half a million children who suffered physical, emotional, and sexual abuse and neglect in State run and Church based institutions in what has been described as the ‘ugly chapter’ in Australia’s history;
2. Recognises that sorry is just a word but it’s a powerful word – that yesterday’s apology is an important symbolic recognition of childhoods lost and lives broken, of damage that cannot be repaired;
3. Acknowledges that the Tasmanian Parliament has also formally apologised to those Tasmanians who, as children, experienced the harm and deprivations of life as wards of the State, and further that the State provided a victims’ compensation fund in recognition of the enduring damage caused by the policies of the past;
4. Reminds the Bartlett Government that there is another generation of Tasmanian children whose stories are as tragic and harrowing as those experienced by former wards of the State, yet these children were not wards – they were institutionalised at the former Willow Court in New Norfolk before it was closed in 2000;
5. Recognises that these children have never been acknowledged by way of a formal apology from the Tasmanian Parliament, and that the time has come to recognise the up to 2000 Tasmanian children who deserve to hear the word sorry – genuine and heartfelt – from this place for the policies of the past;
6. Calls on the Bartlett Government and the Liberal Opposition to commit to undertaking this important, symbolic act on behalf of these Forgotten Tasmanians.
Cassy O’Connor MP Greens Health and Human Services Spokesperson
