According to a news item on ABC the South Australian Government has made an historic apology to former wards of the State who were abused while in government care.
Transcript:
KERRY O'BRIEN, PRESENTER: The South Australian Government today made an historic apology to former Wards of the State who were abused while in government care.
The apology follows an exhaustive inquiry by former Supreme Court Judge Ted Mullighan who personally heard the stories from hundreds of people detailing abuse they suffered while in state institutions.
The Government has accepted all but one of his 54 recommendations and has committed an extra $190 million for child protection. Many of those who gave evidence to the inquiry now qualify for compensation. But there are some who believe the effort to stamp out child abuse has left carers vulnerable to false allegations.
Mike Sexton reports.
MAKE RANN, SA PREMIER: We accept these children were hurt. We accept they were hurt through no fault of their own. We acknowledge this truth.
MIKE SEXTON, REPORTER: This morning in the South Australian Parliament children who had been abused while in care received an apology from the state.
MAKE RANN: To all those who experienced abuse in state care, we are sorry.
JAY WEATHERILL, SA MINISTER FOR FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES: Today has really been about the apology, its been about that recognition. For many others its about seeing the perpetrator being brought to justice so the criminal justice processes are important in that regard. For others it is about help, so services, so they're the things that we have addressed.
MIKE SEXTON: For Ki Meekins this was a day he thought he would never see.
KI MEEKINS, FORMER WARD: I am feeling very, very comfortable with the fact that the state is finally admitting to something that did take place.
MIKE SEXTON: It was his tragic story among others that helped spark the exhaustive inquiry headed by retired Supreme Court Judge Ted Mulligan.
Ki Meekins' detailed how he was taken into state care as a six-month old in 1965 and how his childhood became a nightmare of rape and abuse.
KI MEEKINS: It's been a very harrowing, very dark and a very tormented time just for me personally to actually relive my story over and over again.
MIKE SEXTON: As a 13-year-old he says he was taken to Queensland by theatre producer Ric Marshall who cast him in productions, changed his name and refered to him as his son to avoid authorities, and even bought matching safari suits.
Ki Meekins says the whole time he was being drugged and abused.
KI MEEKINS: The medication they gave me, they knew exactly how much to give me, to not make me fall over but enable me to still stand and still function properly during the day while I go to school and all the rest of it. That's how I was in the permanent state while I was in Queensland was in a drugged state in that sense.
MIKE SEXTON: Ki Meekins escaped from Queensland and eventually as a result of making his story public, others came forward. Ric Marshall was convicted of child abuse and sentenced to six and a half years jail which he serves at home where he suffers from Parkinsons disease and dementia.
KI MEEKINS: Well this is the result I have been waiting for and this is the result that many other thousands of people have been waiting for. We've finally got the results. So to Ted Mullighan, who is a very honourable man in my books, well done.
TED MULLIGHAN, RETIRED SUPREME COURT JUDGE: I've had 130 people who allege sexual abuse.
MIKE SEXTON: In some cases those who testified to the Mullighan Inquiry qualify for compensation under victims of crime legislation that is capped at $50,000. The Premier says the state will be a model litigant, meaning victims of abuse won't necessarily have to go through court to be paid out.
JAY WEATHERILL: I am concerned that a lot of the good things that have been done in building people up and making them feel strong could be undone if we have a system where people have to, I suppose, maximise everything that is wrong about their lives in order to receive these payments.
MIKE SEXTON: But today's apology isn't universally welcomed.
JULIE HALLIFAX, CARE WORKERS COALITION OF SA: We do believe there is a need for an apology but a blanket apology is very dangerous.
MIKE SEXTON: Julie Hallifax was a foster carer for 15 years and now runs the Careworkers Coalition.
The Coalition's submission to the Mullighan inquiry drew on international experience warning about a wave of false allegations against carers generated by the possibility of compensation, creating an atmosphere where the presumption of innocence is suspended.
JULIE HALLIFAX: I have contact with a lot of carers now and care workers, and that is the general feeling with all of them. As a carer you are guilty and you have to prove your innocence.
MIKE SEXTON: The most dramatic example is the case of Julie Hallifax's long time friend Tom Easling. Almost 20 years ago the public servant began working with Adelaide street kids and later provided care at his home to more than one hundred boys for anything from one night to several years.
TOM EASLING, FORMER FOSTER CARER: You build up a rapport with these kids. A lot of them haven't had a time in their life where life hasn't felt like being in enemy territory. So I wanted to equip them with tools and experiences so they realise that there is a good side to life.
DAVID SCOWN, FORMER WARD: He was really a very caring person. Wanted to look out for you and stuff. He was like a father figure to me.
MIKE SEXTON: Tom Easling had never had a complaint against him and so was shocked when police began investigating an allegation levelled as a result of what he calls "schoolyard gossip".
A three month police investigation cleared him but then the South Australian Department of Family and Community Services newly formed Special Investigation Unit followed up and after five months Tom Easling was charged with 20 counts of child sex abuse, all of which he was acquitted of.
TOM EASLING: It took a few days if not weeks to sort of sink in but I'm not sure if it still has sunk in.
MIKE SEXTON: During the trial the jury was told how two former police officers now working for the Special Investigation Unit had been trawling for stories. They offered incentives to one potential witness and openly discussed the possibility of compensation with others prior to obtaining their statements.
TOM EASLING: A lot of shonky stuff, there is no other word for it. They constructed a case against me, this is the Special Investigation Unit. For a genuine victim of abuse in care, certainly those children, young people, young adults, are entitled to some sort of compensation. No disagreement there whatsoever. But to be used, to try and induce someone to make allegations, historical allegations at that, I think is reprehensible.
JAY WEATHERILL: Look, I dont want to comment on Mr Easling or his case at all, but I dont accept his criticism of the Special Investigation Unit. I have confidence in the work they are doing.
MIKE SEXTON: Tom Easling's life begins again now at 49 and with almost $2 million owing in legal fees. Despite not having contact for almost four years he is back in touch with many of the boys he fostered, including David Scown.
DAVID SCOWN: Now he's been left out in the cold really with nothing and after millions of dollars has been spent on his legal fees and he's been acquitted of everything but still he's got nothing back.
MIKE SEXTON: Tom Easling says he still has a passion for child protection but is deeply hurt by a system he believes failed him.
TOM EASLING: The Government's bureaucracy has got a major role to play in the way my case has unfolded. They've done the wrong thing and they've exploited people in vulnerable situations. There needs to be a Royal Commission or an independent inquiry into that.
JAY WEATHERILL: Its just a question of getting the best possible people and having the strictest possible processes. I am very confident that we have the balance right with the Special Investigation Unit.
MIKE SEXTON: For Ki Meekins a huge burden has been lifted off his shoulders with the combination of an official apology, a wide ranging inquiry, a court conviction and the publication of his life story.
But like Tom Easling he's critical of a system that didn't protect him and believes an independent commission against corruption is needed.
KI MEEKINS: The only way to get to the bottom of all of this and these issues in this state is the same as NSW and the same as other
states use. How can South Australia be the only state in Australia void of corruption. I find that very, very hard to believe.
Source: ABC