In the last sitting week of Parliament two reports were tabled in the Senate.
The reports were titled The Lost Innocents and The Forgotten Australians.
Earlier in that week I had been contacted by Leonie Sheady from an organisation called CLAN, the Care Leavers Australia Network, who informed me that over 100 ‘CLANNIES’ were attending the Parliament for the tabling of the reports.
I met with this group and sat in the Senate with them for the tabling. It was an emotional experience for all of them and I was touched by the significance of the moment for the CLANNIES.
The reason Leonie contacted me was she had researched my background and found out that I was in an institution as a child and also a ward of the state and went on to be a foster child.
I had also experienced institutional life and they wanted me to engage with them and to support their cause for recognition, raise public awareness and assist in lobbying Governments.
The organisation is about people who were brought up in care - an estimated half a million children were raised in care during the 20th Century. This includes those brought up in state wards, children’s homes, foster homes and orphanages.
Many of these people are now middle-aged or older. However they still require support, many looking for their families or struggling under the burden of unresolved issues from this past.
CLAN supports these people through an extensive Australian network and advocates for them. Judging by their presence last sitting week, they are doing a great job.
Without CLAN many of these services would not be provided. According to the organisation there are almost no services for older Care Leavers provided either by governments or by the agencies which ran Homes in the past.
If you have spent time in an institution and feel they can assist you please either contact my office or visit the website www.clan.org.au
On their website they are calling for the Prime Minister to recognise the forgotten Australians and apologise as he did to the Indigenous people of Australia.
I support this call but people need to remember that just apologising is not enough.
As with our indigenous people we need action in closing the gap; real action that last week a report showed has not been happening.
Mr Rudd said we must double and treble our efforts.
Well the plain facts are this gap has widened since the apology which is a sad indictment on the Government’s performance in this area.
To double or treble zero still equals zero.
In my first speech in Parliament (click here to watch) I referred to the apology and the symbolism of it. While the apology may help some people get over the pain of the past we need to address the problems still facing the indigenous population of today with real solutions not just words.
I hope that through my support which I humbly offer to the “Lost Innocents” I can in some way help towards easing the pain of their experiences, which I can only imagine as I was fortunate enough to be raised by a loving and caring foster family from the age of 3.
I am with you CLANNIES.