In 2004 a senate committee wrote a report and recommendations regarding compensation and official apologies for the abuse of children in state,church and other out of home care facilities in prior years.The response of the federal government to nearly all of the recommendations was,"This is a matter for state,territories and churches to address."
A lot of countries have lifted the Statute of Limitations in these cases, therby allowing the individuals in question to seek recompense
or a formal apology.Australians are still fighting to have that same statute overturned.What are the governments,state and federal trying to hide?Why do the courts accept the fact that the abuse happened but the various levels of govt have buried their collective heads in the sand and pass the buck?
I am not going to quote statistics etc.Anyone interested should read Community Affairs References Commitee.Forgotten Australians.Then read the Australian Government Response to the Commitee's Reports.

for all of us forgotten australians now is the time that the goverment of australia star telling the truth about the rapes and abuse that we as children suffered at the hands of the goverment employers that worked for the states and that of also the chuches and the orphanages , we are the real victims that the goverment and the courts are , denying our justice , the real story is that neither goverment party are covering these abuses up , ask them to put it to a vote ,they wouldnt have any guts cause they know that the have been hiding the truth for too many years , we victims tell our story of which is the truth in court yet a jude says your complaint is real and a tragic part of history then dissmisses the case and makes you fight on for justice by appealling that dission , so that the victim can be raped and abused once again , , im the real deal hear and i will never stop the fight for justice for myself and that of the forgotten austalians , its time mr howard being prime minister to clean the air with the truth and also for the oppisition to clean the air with the truth about us victims that the goverment are sweeping under the carpet, we will never forget and live with it everyday as to what happend to us , and we will not stop the fight for justcie , , stop the gover up about this mr howard, and mr rudd, and all you other politicians have some guts thats why we tax payers pay you to be in your jobs , so justice and the truth can be placed on the table , but you are all so week that you bypass our lives and are sweeping history under the carpet this is for all you politicians ,kind regards micheal

to all us ex homies and exinmates , and the ophanes and the fostered children ,, we are still here alive and still suffer and are the real victims of the australian goverment and its bodies , i find it hard that no one has bothered to put any post here other than me and haygirl who got it going , the list of homes run by the state and also of that of the chuches who took over some of the states institutions , the foster homes the orphanges the remand centres the boys and girls home , i remember when i was at taldree remand centre reiby was right beside it and you could hear the girls screeming , as we are awarw now they were being raped and abused by sick -uckers that worked for the goverment , , why is no one wanting to admitt the truth and get it dealt with so we can put this to rest but the goverment does not want to do this ,, they would rather give 300 hundred million dollars to another country before resolving the forgotten australians , we are still here and still alive , some of us are just hanging on others have took their own life because they and their strenght gave out aand its bloody hard to keep holding onto your own life , this is why the goverments and the courts and the politicians are covering up all the abuse , we suffered ,also hello to all our clan members , im trying my best to get us justice , im in a photo with the shadow minister for dept youth community , all though seems she is not of much help cause i dont here anyone given us response from the goverment to our protest , i was at the sydney protest , kind regards micheal brown

huffnpuff and haygirl

Thanks for drawing my attention to this forum which I didn't know about till you told me. I was just sticking to the articles originally posted by Bernie.

I agree that the Howard Government washed their hands of all responsibility after the Forgotten Australians Report (August 2004). They acted on just two of the 39 Recommendations.

(a) They gave each State and Territory $16,666 to erect memorials to mark the lives of institutionalised kids (a decent sized statue would cost $200,000 so they won't be very memorable - anyway some of us think a memorial is not a high priority).

(b) They also ran a national conference which I begged to be allowed to attend. Most of the talking was done by people from churches and charities and government bureacrats so that was a waste of time and money.

They ignored the other 37 Recommendations of the Forgoten Australians Report saying they belonged to the States, churches and charities.

Now the States are playing hide and seek. Bracks issued an apology in the Victorian Parliament last year and gave some funds for counselling and a top up of $30,000 to go with Howard's $16,666 for a memorial. Some former inmates have sued the Victorian Government and were given some hush-hush money but that's a few out of the many thousands who have a case for neglect and abuse in State-run and State-sponsored institutions.

The Victorian Government refuses to hold a State inquiry - Queensland and SA have held inquiries (and Tasmania had a mini-inquiry through their Ombudsman).

A group of us have been holding silent vigils on the steps of Parliament House in Melbourne every month hoping to shame the Victorian Govertnment into doing something about compensation and a State inquiry. We've met with some politicians who say they are willing to help but...it drags on and on without much happening

We will keep trying.

I would suggest to everyone who feels disenfranchised through the abuse of supposed carers, be they foster carers, poor parents, orphange or institutional staff, the only resolution to your concerns are

1 publicly denounce your abuser(s) and pursue them through the courts as either a private or class action or through the press and publicity organs if you are happier with the risk of a libel claim than the costs of initiating court proceedings.

2 put the experience behind you and get on with your lives. This is a harder resolution to adopt but in some cases it may be the most constructive, where you focus your mind and time on doing something to benefit yourself instead of bringing down someone else.

Expecting current government(s) to make restitution or to say sorry is just seeking to divert actions onto someone else.

I deplore the fact that a single child has been abused whilst in anyones care.

I deplore all those who exploit any positions of power or authority to use and abuse at the expense of others.

Personally, if I am ever given insight to any such abuse I do make a point of exposing it and exposing it loud and often until everyone knows.

I have made criticism not simply of the abusers but the supervisors whose indolence or neglect allowed abuse to be pursued whilst “on their watch”.

I stand by that statement.

It is not simply the abusers but those who sought to ignore or coverup the abuse who are equally to blame and should be culpably liable.

for col rouge i have never had no problem telling the media and the police and any other person of what happend to me and that of other children of the boys home i was in which is daruk , as you say tell everyone and anyone ,well i have done that and so much for the media and the courts and the police , they are covering these acts up just as the goverment is , ive named the pedophiles and have state what occurred , you should look into all the responses ive posted and yes i have posted them with bernie mathews as well , and it just shows even with his help we are getting no where , . by the way you said you worked as and in admiastration , , these are all the homes i was in , taldree , yasmar, worrimi, daruk , albion street, the went to the goal system , maitland ,longbay main prison, goulburn main prison, cessnock main prison ,parramatta main prison, mussellbrook main prison , silverwater old gaol main prison , silverwater new gaol, emu plains main prison, so i ask were you ever in attenance at any of these institutions , , it seems to me that you really don;t seem to care a great deal of the suffering we endured in the boys and girls homes the orphanages and foster homes , and remand centres , or is that you may know some of those pedophiles ,who worked in those institutions , i am in the court system at present and if what i say is going to effect my case , i beleave it will not because the courts are sweeping the cases under the rug as they have been told to do so by the goverment , you would of read the post i put in the media one for yet you gave me no response , also hi to frank gol , im trying my best to get us justice and im proud of your protest in vic,

Thank you gentlemen, for taking the time to respond to huffnpuffs article.We have been denouncing the perpetrators and trying to get these matters heard in court.The court of NSW keeps delaying the cases.
I don't think libel cases will ensue as most of the sorry animals who did these things are dead.Most have made good lives for ourselves,some unfortunately have been unable to.I know of one lady,a model citizen, who has the most horrific nightmares.Nearly every night she is fighting off her abusers,screaming out"get off me,leave me alone".This abuse occured 50 years ago.She IS undergoing counselling.
The supervisors in those institutions were the ones,in most cases,perpetrating the abuse.The govt were supervising the supervisors,therfore they are the ones to be held accountable.
I am not taking legal action because i own my home.If i were to lose,i would be up for govt costs.This i cannot afford.Class actions cannot be taken until the statute of limitations is overturned.Once this occurs their could be a deluge.
If your children had been abused and you found out,even many years down the track,wouldn't you use whatever means available to seek justice?This fight is for the the people who have been unable to "get on with life".
Because of past abuse,some parents have been unable to have normal relationships with their children.In some cases feeling dirty if the kids climbed upon their knee.In some cases being far to strict and running their houses along the lines of an institution.If you haven't had a "normal childhood"you don't know how to deal with "normal life".
What happened to some in those places has affected later generations also.By normal,i mean not being sexually abused or having your bones broken by people you were entrusted to.We were little children who should have been cared for,NOT abused.

hi forgotten australians , the truth will come out when this is the question , two goverment bodies have not the heart to admitt the truth , and deny to act , for our justice , as of the homes i mentioned , daruk boys home was also spelt , dharruk training centre , of which is now the john moroney correctional centre at windsor n.s.w. , as for justice and to continue to fight for justice ,i already lost my childrens home fighting for justice and still im fighting , we ,are not going to be political pawns that the goverment can wipe their hands of any more , enough is enough , , you can not tell me that their is only i hear at times , a lot of people are reading this ,,though they seem not to want to say anything other , than those who have already , spoke , col rouge still awaitng your response , i lost all my home fighting ,for the right of law , so i guess if i didn;t say anything and started the truth , i would still have our home , as for class action suits , daruk boys home had two class action while my case was in proces , and as ,under silence , this i find out after my court case , so all the time i had been pursing justice their was class action going on with the goverment in ,silence where these people will no longer be able to be wittness, daruk was an ilegal tyre dumping ground of which the goverment was making prohit from slavery , ,also under the 1939 welfare act no goverment bodies or party or person can gain prohit from , a breach of the law , and the commonwealth constitution ,and the welfare act , kind regards micheal

i was just on the web site new south wales goverment , as i mention im pursuing the australian goverment ,for justice of what happend to us forgotten australians , and that of i of daruk boys home .of which is really caled dharruk training centre , type that in on the search bar on that sit you get two hit about dharruk training centre , of which is the same place as daruk boys home , yet when you click on the name dharruk training centre , i tried to get information yet it will not say anything , and i will just be writting back again to the same people, , isn;t it about time to open up in parliment ,all you politicians , and leaders, kind regards micheal

Hi to all "forgotten Australians"

I am one too. I am interested in contacting you via email because I am assisting in co-ordinating a conference specifically to address the Senate Committe recommendations. If you would like to be kept informed and up to date on the issue you can contact me at comments@bellingeninstitute.com.au.

Hello to all,

The forgotten Australians, some of us are. I am interested to know some here other than myslef. Next year there will be a conference in Sydney, September which will address the recommendations in the Senate Committee Report. As I am assisting in co-ordinating the conference I would like to keep in touch with anyone who is interested in this event. If you would like more information you can contact me via, comments@bellingeninstitute.com.au and I will place you on my mailing list for this event and other info that arises in the meantime.

Cheers, Jo1960

hi fellow members of the forgotten australians ,for jo1960 my email adress is michealjbrown@hotmail.com, hope to hear from you , well it is showing that their is very little surport for us on any of these web sites as their are no comments about us for or against other than those who have already written in here , yes jo1960, i heard that their is something happening on the 16th of this month at canberra where willma is going to be their as for me i can not come due to reasons of health , but i shall and will attend any rally in sydney , looks like col rouge does not want to chat no more , anyway for all us forgotten australians im trying my best to get justice so the goverment will tell the truth of what we suffered , i shall not give up , jo1960, look up daruk boys home through google , also with or without my name , good health to all kind regards micheal

huffnpuff, haygirl, Wilma, Bernie and others

Please have a look at today's new article on slave labour in children's institutions. It complements what you have been saying about sexual and other forms of abuse and violence.

Everyone seems to be ducking for cover espscially in NSW and Victoria. The report from Ted Mullighan in SA and the imminent redress scheme in WA, plus the action in Tassie and Queensland, put the bigger States to shame.

We've got to pin NSW and Vic down and make them accountable.

Eyes to The Floor,a short film about Hay girls maximum security institution won the short film award in Canberra the other night.Hopefully this will bring more recognition to our fight and more people will become aware of what we children suffered in the 50s, 60s and early 70s.Word is starting to spread very quickly now and ABC's Stateline is helping with their broadcasts.Sunday at 2pm their is another about Bessie Guthrie and her crusade to expose those places.
Huffnpuff,no-one is forgetting about you.I for one have been extremely busy making Xmas presents for ex state wards who are still finding the going a bit tough.A little bit of cheer at Xmas is something a lot haven't had for many years.We will be fighting harder than ever in the new year and are now getting people in important positions backing us.
Watch this space because i believe the fight is about to take off with a vengeance.Keep pursuing your goals people as i see light at the end of the tunnel.

hi to all us forgotten australians,i hope you are all well as best we can be, frank i will look at the new article after i write this and place my comment in there , i thank all who have been trying to help us victims of the abuses that we occurred, at the hands of those pedophiles the goverment is still covering for, i hope that the court system and the goverment finally admitt to the truth ,though it has been a hard fight for all of us as we are still suffering as each day go bye, i know that we have lost a lot of the forgotten australians,due to health ,and that of suisides, or have been taken out by unknown persons, well im still here ,and if they want to have another go at my life, let them do it front on not come from behind and slash my throat and say shut up , well im still living and ive got the guts to go front on with who ever did this to me .i will not stop the fight for us victims no matter what , where is there are people out their that don't care one bit as to what happend to us all, well i will keep putting what pressure i can on the goverment and the state of new south wales ,through my post ,i only wish i was a computor expert as i would plaster the forgotten australians every where possable , i even sent emails to cnn america news yet got no response ,and the thing is i noticed that some people are starting to bag the forgotten australians plight, well when or if anything happens to anyone they know then they will know how we feel , also it hurts when on this national forum site that you can only put 5 post every 24 hours take care everyone kind regards micheal