Vic: Victoria apologises to abused wards of the state

AAP General News (Australia)
08-09-2006
Vic: Victoria apologises to abused wards of the state

By Nick Lenaghan

MELBOURNE, Aug 9 AAP - Former wards of the state have met Victorian Premier Steve Bracks
before receiving a formal apology from him in parliament for the abuse and neglect they
suffered in institutions.

"To be without a family, to be without a community, to be denied all the enrichment
and nourishment that a family and a community can give you and to be shunted aside and
to be put aside as if you are in a prison effectively is just an outrage which we need
to apologise for," Mr Bracks said after meeting abuse victims.

"We should be big enough to say the state was wrong at the time when these events were
happening in state institutions."

About 90,000 Victorian children were put in institutions by their families or other
agencies between 1928 and 1992.

Institutions were run either by the state government or by religious groups such as
the Salvation Army.

Mr Bracks said the apology today was intended for all state wards because all had experienced
abuse in the institutions.

"You can't ignore the fact that within those institutions you may not have been an
individual who suffered that particular abuse but a large amount of people did," he said.

The apology follows a 2004 federal government report recommending all states acknowledge
their role in running the institutions where children were neglected or harmed.

Under changes to Victorian law two years ago, an official apology is not an admission
of liability.

Mr Bracks said the government had settled about 60 cases over the past 10 years, paying
out $4.3 million to abuse victims.

Further claims would also be dealt with on a case-by-case basis but there would be
no cap set on the compensation pay-outs.

Mr Bracks said it was appropriate for his government to issue the apology even though
the abuse and neglect had occurred in earlier times, under previous governments.

One of the victims, Ken Carter, now a 61-year-old businessman, said today's apology
meant a lot for him.

"You know what the problem is in this country? People don't understand what apology
is. We've got (Prime Minister John) Howard who won't apologise on behalf of previous governments
for the treatment of the Aborigines," he said.

"As I said to Steve (Bracks) before: `That wasn't hard was it Steve?' That does means a lot."

Although Mr Carter is now a successful entrepreneur, employing more than 100 people,
he experienced 18 years of misery as an orphan in both a state-run home and a Salvation
Army facility he described as "like a concentration camp."

"The most damning thing about all this is they never told me about my brothers and
sisters. That's the thing I couldn't handle," he said.

AAP nl/mh/jt/sd

KEYWORD: WARDS

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