Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Hansard source

At the beginning of 2007, as the preselected Labor candidate for Corio, I received a call from Leonie Sheedy, a woman who lived in Sydney but had grown up in Geelong at the St Catherine's Orphanage. She along with Joanna Penglase have been the driving force behind Care Leavers Australia Network, an organisation established to advocate on behalf of those who have grown up orphanages. She told me her story and the thousands like her, and told me this was an issue that I needed to give my attention to, an issue to be sure about child abuse but an issue about the absence of parental love. We now know how important that is in the development of a child; that children should only be removed from their parents in the most dire of circumstances and certainly not simply because people were too poor. And, once removed, to then place children in institutions where there were hundreds of kids was the most inappropriate place to put them where that family love could never be replicated. But such is the story of 500,000 of our fellow Australians.

Leonie Sheedy rang me, because Geelong was the home to more orphanages than any other city outside a capital. I suppose that means there are more forgotten Australians in the electorate of Corio than in any other electorate in the country. She said that I had an obligation. So I, along with Jason Clare, her local member, and Steve Irons—himself a forgotten Australian—began to participate in campaigning, along with the forgotten Australians, to have an apology made to them by the then Rudd government.

Today I want to acknowledge Jenny Macklin, the then Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. Without her, this apology would never have taken place. I also want to acknowledge the then Leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Turnbull, who said wonderful words on that day. And, of course, I want to acknowledge then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who gave the apology and made the decision to do so. It was a remarkable day—a day of joy, a day of tears and a day of healing, as stories were told for the first time and believed. It was a day of resilience in this journey, meeting hundreds of forgotten Australians. These are among the toughest and strongest people I have ever met, a characteristic which binds them—people from my own electorate, such as Leonie Sheedy, who has her connection; Vlad Selakovic; and who could forget Peter Hicks and his hugging Malcolm Turnbull on that day? We learnt a lot about the forgotten Australians then, of their needs in adult life, particularly as they grow older, and of how, tragically, too many of forgotten Australians die too early.

With us on that day was also Leonie's brother, Anthony Sheedy. His story is heart wrenching. At the age of two he was put into an orphanage and we are not sure why. He grew up believing that he was an actual orphan, that he had no parents, until his parents arrived at the orphanage to introduce themselves when he was 12. But this was no happy homecoming. At the end of that day, they left and Anthony stayed. At the age of 15, in handcuffs, he was taken to a boy's home in Bendigo where, for the next four years, he worked hard for very little reward. By the time he was 19 he had had an appalling childhood, with a body which had been both physically and sexually abused. As we think about how the cards of life are dealt, how could Anthony possibly have played that hand? Not surprisingly, he lived his life after that on the edge, between boarding houses and the streets, a life soaked in alcohol. It was not until the age of 60, when Leonie found him, at the Sisters of Charity, in Fitzroy, washing dishes. There, his life took a turn for the better, as Leonie took him to Geelong. He started living there and, for the first time in his 60s, he began to experience joy on this planet. He used to volunteer in my office. Anthony was cheeky and fun loving. He loved the Geelong Football Club and loved Frank Sinatra. He would talk about him incessantly, when we let him! It was wonderful that he was able to be here on the day of the apology. Very sadly, within two years of that day, he passed away. Among my most cherished memories is the fact that I stood with him and spoke to him on that day. Today Leonie keeps fighting for compensation, something which must be given, and for services. She keeps listening to forgotten Australians. Leonie Sheedy is a national treasure. To her, I say: thank you.

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