A law firm working with survivors of abuse in State care considers today’s apology was tone deaf and not survivor focused.

Survivors have been waiting a very long time for this Government to acknowledge what they went through, Cooper Legal’s Principal Partner, Sonja Cooper says.

“This was the perfect opportunity to get it right, but unfortunately, the State has let survivors down yet again.

“Cooper Legal repeatedly asked the Government to use the apology to show how it intended to put things right, including by making a real commitment to providing equitable redress for all survivors.

“Instead, we heard the same rhetoric we’ve heard from successive Governments, namely that this a historic issue that no wants to see happen again. It was simply repeating what we already heard on Parliament at the end of July.

“Well, I hate to break it to the Government, our so-called historical shame, is not that. It is a current shame. Countless children are still being taken from their homes and placed with people who abuse them, degrade them and neglect them.

“If this Government is really committed to ensuring the horrors of the past are adequately addressed, it would make an announcement about meaningful redress immediately.

“As it currently stands, survivors of State care receive paltry ex-gratia payments for abuse suffered at the hands of the State. This means the State does not accept liability for its actions, but effectively pays survivors a small amount of money in ‘good faith’, essentially to go away.

“Where is the good faith in that?

“Today, the Government had an historic and monumental opportunity to start righting decades of wrongs against survivors. Unfortunately, the Government has yet again let down survivors who placed their trust in it”, Ms Cooper concluded.

© Scoop Media