Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Attorney-General for moving this motion on the anniversary of Prime Minister Gillard's historic apology to the nearly 250,000 Australians affected by the era of forced adoption. This of course occurred in the mid-20th century, but it extended right up until my time working as a medical student and then paediatric registrar in Sydney, and I saw it happen. I've never forgotten being at the delivery of a newborn baby, and a young girl, really, having her child removed from her and not ever being able to hold the child, not being able to put the baby to the breast, not being able to kiss it, not being able to hug it. I saw that happen in a Catholic hospital in Sydney. I saw the mother quickly being transported to the maternity ward, of course surrounded by other mothers who'd delivered babies and were able to hold and feed them, while she had her breasts strapped so that she couldn't lactate and was then removed from the hospital back to the home where she had been kept prior to having her baby. That happened in my time as a paediatric registrar.

I've seen also, even more recently, some people arguing about the need to have early adoption of children who are placed in foster care. So I don't think we should glibly think, even though it's 10 years since Julia Gillard apologised to those children and their families who had been forcibly removed, that it can't happen again. I know that there are some people who are advocating for a more relaxed policy towards adoption of children, and I think that's a bad thing. I think we should be very, very careful about allowing adoption of children who have been removed from their families.

As many survivors of this period would attest, they have struggled with the impact of this for all of their lives. I would go further; the effects of this are generational. To think that this is what we did in a civilised, developed country is absolutely shameful. It is something that we must continue to recognise, and we must continue to support the people involved. I find it difficult to stand here and think about the trauma that those kids and their families suffer from. As a father of six, I cannot imagine not being able to hug my newborn baby, or what my wife would go through not being able to cuddle and breastfeed her child. It is something that is beyond what an apology can do to repair that damage. It goes a long way, I admit. I know, having spoken to people who are victims of forced adoption—I say 'victims' because it is a major trauma.

I struggle to comprehend how they can deal with normal life after that. Of course, many of them do, and I want to pay tribute in this Chamber to Steve Irons, who was the member for Swan, who very strongly advocated for the national inquiry and national apology to those victims of forced adoption. He was a victim of forced adoption and he went on to become a very successful businessman and a very successful politician, although for those opposite rather than for Labor. It was a tribute to him and to others, including Julia Gillard and her government, that we did have this formal apology 10 years ago. From talking to Steve, the grief and torment of being removed from his family goes on, as I said, for many, many years—for life—and affects subsequent generations as well, knowing it is part of their family history.

The apology is the least that can be done for these men and women who were once just beautiful kids when they were taken from their mothers, the majority of whom may well have been very young women or even children themselves. They did not receive appropriate support. They did not receive government supports to which they were actually entitled. Some of these women were entitled to supports, but the medical system did not explain to them what supports could be provided to them. It is a national tragedy and it is a national trauma that we need to deal with. The grief and torment is shared by the women who were pressured into giving up their children and their children. It affected their whole lives—their learning, their work, their subsequent families—and it was a very, very lonely journey through many years of emotional and mental anguish that these people had to suffer.

I've spoken to many of the kids that I looked after that had been adopted—sometimes not forcibly adopted. What they all want is to know their birth family. They do. Many people who were subject to forced adoption did in fact have successful and happy lives, but the trauma stayed with them. As the Minister for Social Services has said, the mother-baby bond was broken in the most traumatic way. No support was given to these people. So many mothers were pressured into giving up their newborn babies or had their babies taken forcibly through immoral, unethical and illegal practices. Nothing was done to support them. It is hard to imagine the trauma they have suffered and continue to suffer. As a paediatrician it pains me to think of the anguish that these people have gone through. I have seen many children over my medical career, and they all have one thing in common: a strong will and intention to know their heritage, to know where they've come from, to meet their birth parents and to be able to resolve some of the difficulties that they have faced because of forced adoption. For many, that will never happen. Of course, many have died. But it is really important that, as an Australian government, we support those who survive to come to terms with the trauma and support them for the damage that we as a country have caused.

That's why the announcement by Minister Rishworth, that our government is strengthening the current supports provided to people affected by forced adoptions, with $700,000 of funding for training, aged care, allied health and forced adoption support service providers, is so important. It is important to ensure that everyone receives targeted and trauma-informed care. It is important that we make sure people are aware of the supports that are now available to them. There were supports for many of these mothers in the days when their babies were taken from them, but the medical system did not inform them of the supports that were available and did not support them to keep their children.

I know that sometimes families have huge stresses upon them, and there may well be other issues involved in children being placed in foster care. I have dealt with many of these kids. I do have concerns that some of the services we provide to children placed in foster care are still not adequate and concerns that supports for families to be able to keep their children with them are still not adequate. I think it is very important that we recognise that the best place for a child to be is with their birth family in the vast majority of cases. We have to make sure that children are not removed from their families wherever it's possible they can be kept together. That's something that, as a paediatrician, I feel very strongly about, with almost, now, 50 years of experience working in this field. The Gillard government did many wonderful things. The apology was part of that, but I look forward to making sure we provide support as we can to those removed.

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