Brett Raguse (Forde, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, and politically it is probably a good thing as well. The wonderful thing, of course, is understanding my background, understanding my family history. More importantly, it comes down to issues that affect all adoptees. Today it is not a problem because most jurisdictions around the country changed these laws some time ago, but at the time my first son was born, when I was 24 years of age, my wife was able to give her whole family medical history, and when the specialist said, ‘Well, what’s your family history?’ I had to say, ‘I don’t know.’ The doctor was outraged by that—outraged at me almost for not knowing—and I explained that it was illegal for me to have access to that information. Again, the fact that that information had been archived and had been kept and that there were ways and means to access that information is very important.

Because of that I have some experience with the Commonwealth archives—and the state archives, but the Commonwealth archives particularly—but for people who have not delved into archives and do not have a lot of knowledge of that information trail, it is an overwhelming process to actually find a way through. I know that the Commonwealth archives at the time—I am talking about the late 80s—certainly were overwhelming, compared to how they are presented today. I know that because I have had more recent experience with the archives, although not for the purposes of adoption. The reality is that they are such an important resource and they need to be protected at all costs.

I was able to track the family history of my adoptive family, the Raguse family. They were French-German migrants back in the 1800s and I was able to track their arrival in Queensland through records from migration, ship logs et cetera. All that information exists. As for my natural family, once I had established that I was related to them, it turned out that my natural grandmother was the matriarch of the largest family in Queensland. There are something like 150 great-grandchildren, 50 grandchildren; it just goes on and on. So, Mr Deputy Speaker, with a name like Smith as a birth name and a name like Raguse I can tell you I am probably related to everybody!

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