Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Every child has the right to feel safe, to be heard and to be protected by those in whom their safety is entrusted. But, for survivors of institutionalised child abuse, those rights were denied. You sought safety and were subjected to unspeakable harm. You spoke up, and those with power turned away. You named demons and were demonised. For these unforgivable acts of avoidance, for the culture of wilful ignorance, for the pain and trauma that was met with silence, for the silence that was created and in which prowled the predators that did your life such terrible damage—for all these things and so much more—your parliament tonight offer up our apologies.

There may well be those watching at home who neither trust the words we offer nor believe in the genuineness of the spirit in which they are put forward. To those I say: you have every right to be suspicious, because you placed your trust in us, you placed your trust in those who were charged with your protection, and we failed you. Our failure will cast a long shadow over this place and all places that took part in it—a shadow which we will never, nor should we ever, attempt to escape. We made you feel as though you were shameful, as though you were broken, when it was we who were broken, when it was our shame to be held.

It is for us now to offer this recognition, to offer this apology and to humbly seek your forgiveness. It is for us now to dedicate ourselves solemnly to the work of making this apology material—to dedicate ourselves to doing those things which will ensure that no child is ever again subjected to the harms, that no child is ever again turned away from when they speak up and that no demon is ever again facilitated to prowl among the young of this nation.

As we reflect upon the findings of the royal commission, as we absorb the stories that were so bravely told after being held for so long, we must reflect upon those things which caused these horrors to take place. We must recognise that our society has for too long disregarded the voices of children, treating them as mere chattels of adults and writing them off as imaginative and as liars when they come forward with their stories. We must reflect upon how we as a society can radically and urgently change this—the ways in which we can elevate and enshrine the rights of Australian children so that no child ever again is left to suffer in silence or subjected to abuse.

I thank the chamber for its time.