Australia to apologise to state-care child immigrants

AUSTRALIA’s government will follow its historic apology to Aborigines last year for past injustices with a similar apology to childimmigrants and Australian-born children who suffered in state care during the past century, a cabinet minister said.

Families and indigenous affairs minister Jenny Macklin announced the apology yesterday on the anniversaries of Senate reports on child immigration in 2001 and on Australian children raised in institutions in 2004. Both reports recommended that the government of then prime minister John Howard apologise for the abuses and assaults that many suffered in institutions and foster care.

The report on child immigration, titled Righting the Record, said thatbetween 6,000 and 30,000 children from Britain and Malta, often taken from unmarried mothers or impoverished families, were sent alone to Australia asmigrants in the last century. It could not determine the actual number because of scarce records.