Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change, Environment and Water) Share this | Hansard source

I want to address this motion on the national apology to the forgotten Australians and former child migrants through the eyes of Phil Manniche who lives within my electorate: I spoke with him this morning. Phil came to Canberra for the apology and it was a profound event for him. I would like to tell his story.

He is the father of four children. He is a 56-year-old pensioner. He struggles as a father as it is a one car family. He and his wife do a Herculean job. He has spinal injuries, difficulties with his legs and he told me this morning that he has cardiac difficulties. Right from birth he has effectively been an orphan. He was born into the Haven, as it was known, in North Fitzroy. He said his mother was destitute. He was raised in his very early days in the Darling Babies Home in Malvern of which he has no recollection. The bulk of his formative years were spent in St John’s homes Church of England, Canterbury.

During the course of the inquiries into the forgotten Australians and former child migrants, he presented 130 pages of child abuse, abuse against himself. It is almost inconceivable. He has had that corroborated not just by other students or children who are there but also by one of the carers. He said that as a young boy he was friends with a young Aboriginal boy and he was beaten repeatedly and severely for that friendship. As a consequence of that friendship, he was alienated and as a consequence he suffered enormously. He said in particular his head was driven through a wall and he was sexually abused. He asked me to place on the record in the Parliament of Australia in the course of this motion that he was subject to 9½ years of sexual abuse as a young boy, facing things which I cannot imagine. As a father of two children, it cuts to the core of everything we believe in.

That is why, when I look at this motion, I am only going to speak briefly today because I think Phil Manniche’s story says everything we need to know. His story sadly is the story of thousands and thousands of other young Australians who are either born into foster care or more particularly into institutional care. I know that in my own electorate we had the Newhaven boys home and just outside my electorate in Mornington there was the Andrew Kerr home. As a student at Mornington Primary School I knew young children who were going to Andrew Kerr. I have no information on what the conditions were like there. I do know that in the midst of all the darkness there were points of light, and there were people who showed great care and great compassion, but it is absolutely and profoundly clear that there was significant, systemic and sustained violence, physical abuse, mental abuse, sexual abuse and emotional distortion which occurred throughout Australia in a way which we now need to acknowledge.

I have to confess that I was largely ignorant. I did not believe that we could have sustained such a systemic problem in Australia. This comes from the practice of turning a blind eye. Let it be absolutely clear that child abuse continues in Australia today but behind closed doors, so we must be ever vigilant. That means that, if there is cause to doubt or suspect, we need to act. We need to act carefully, of course—not be engaged in some sort of McCarthyism—in a way which ensures that people who are most vulnerable are protected. The task of protecting those in greatest need of care continues, but the moment for apology is now. I say on behalf of the people of Flinders, and behalf of myself and my family, I am sorry for that which Phil Manniche and hundreds of thousands of others suffered. To Phil, you are a beacon of what can happen in the human spirit. You have had a profoundly difficult upbringing. You have been abused in the worst way, but you have resolved to live your life with a sense of purpose, spirit and fortitude and you have brought up four children, so you should be proud. You can reflect on what you have done, but you should be proud that you have conquered and your life is a success for that. For this reason I support this motion.

Debate (on motion by Mr Schultz) adjourned.

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