Apology to those harmed in Queensland Institutions during their childhood

NOTES: Do the usual. Use this SPIN. Apologise, offer prays, talk of Biblical connections and speak on behalf of God - that usually does the trick hypothetically theoretically speaking. This one might need a bit more thought as we have our principles in order on this. They either fit in with our ideas or they are out - make that clear in a nice way. Minimise. Minimise to the maximum on this one. Do not offer any form of recompense (always get that one from legal advice when you need something like that). Blame the Government and explain that after all they did not give us enough money to do more. Its their fault and I'll be able to say that God would say that as well - not in those words mind. Push hard for more money and positions on boards and positions and ensure that the good name is protected as we dont want any of that - thats what good Catholics are for. Make a note to get that message out through sermons this Sunday. Apologise again, say it will never happen again. Tell them look at all the good work we do. St Vinnies is the showpiece for that though I never did understand how redistributing donated used furniture to the unfortunate could be used so many times to trade off the buggered butts of a few thousand children. Never mind we have good people working with us. Get it down to a single page, say we will do something - it'll take years before someone figures that out and there will be a financial meltdown or some other crisis to keep everyones mind off that. Works a treat every time. Mention they are in our prays. the sake of humanity, tell them we will set up another committee - call it Independent something and quietly have a word on the side about some more money.

 

You get the Forde apology instead of a meaningful apology followed by action from both Church and State when you dont understand that your actions actually aid the minimising the covering up of the reality and the inability of Government to respond appropriately because it encounters resistance from the Church at every avenue which may expose the extent of these crimes and that is resisted everywhere justice and in particular the crime of sexual abuse attempts to obtain a valid legal outcome. Instead we got what a good cover up should provide. Some words and prays, another apology, shock and horror, it all so awful, we dont know what to do so we did as little as possible - as usual; you get newspapers who are more afraid of the legal threat than the lives and the horrors our children experienced - continued to experience and experience on a daily basis. You get that! If the plan had been to produce a failure then the plan would have been successful. The knowledge of the extent of these abuses has been found to have been similar on countries such as Ireland, England, Canada, the United States, Belguim and on. The outcome is the same all over the world. Deals are cut, damage control is rife, silence and disbelief yet no plan and no sight of a plan. To me that makes the plan of September 1 the best plan out there at the moment and I challenge anyone to come up with a more democratic, more positive and more appropriate plan as to how to respond to the clergy sexual abuse crisis. Obvious the revelations of the scandal in America followed by years of lawsuits and decades more of that to come, with similar in Canada and from Native American Peoples, the outcomes of the crisis as found in Alaska and reenforced through events in Ireland and other countries did not raise sufficient alarm for Australian Governments to respond. Instead the acted in the way they had and for the years since 2002 we have maintained a very strong and effective cover up mentality. The good name of the church is protected at every avenue available and supported by the words of God - that business as usual in an ongoing cover up. You would get that if the plan had been to fail yet it just came about through the result of the generational teaching and education of the Church to enlist all its followers to unwittingly maintain those things such as the Statute of Limitations laws and many other laws manipulated over the time through simply protecting the good name of the church and following its law first in order to obtain eternal salvation as a part of the largest cover up of the sexual abuse of children on the planet by any entitity let alone the leading church of Christianity.

 

Apology

"Apology to those harmed in Queensland Institutions during their childhood"

Apology to those harmed by institutionalised physical and sexual abuses in Queensland Institutions funded by taxpayers money and supported by Government Ministries and public services across the breadth of the State of Queensland and subsequently the country during the childhood of Australian children in all States. It is not possible for such crimes to show respect for boundary lines on a map and we acknowledge that there have been many other examples of this in all States and Territories.

"We the government and churches together welcome the report of the Forde Commission of Inquiry into Child Abuse in Queensland Institutions."

 

It is decidedly odd and strange to have had to have the need for such a report. To actually welcome it is the oddest manner in which to approach such a grave circumstance a person is likely to experience.

 

A more appropriate beginning may have read well by beginning in this way. "We wept with shame at our own ignorrance due to our failure to hold the rights and the responsibilities of our future in its appropriate place. Instead we focus on financial crises and flu epidemics whilst we reacted all over the country with a splattering of un-coordinated reactions at ther horror of our realisation that we could get this so wrong for so long and that since our understanding of the horrors these events have brought on to our children has focused us back on the proper responsibility of both Church and State to act as a model parent in society and place the rights and the responsibilities we have to our children before we build more roads or churches, before we begin to fall back into old ways which have permitted these horrors to have existed."

"We acknowledge that there have been failures with respect to the children entrusted to our care, despite all the good the Institutions did in the light of their day.The result has been a system in which some children have suffered maltreatment, and their social emotional, and physical needs have been neglected."



We sincerely apologise to all those people who suffered in any way while resident in our facilities, and express deep sorrow and regret at the hurt and distress suffered by those who were victims of abuse.

We accept the finding of the Forde Inquiry that government under-funding and consequent under-resourcing was a significant factor in the failure to provide adequate services to children in care.

We are committed to establishing and continuing dialogue with victims of abuse in institutions to discuss the basis for providing appropriate responses. We acknowledge that discussions are well advanced between some parties.

We are committed to working together with victims of abuse in institutions to ensure the provision of appropriately coordinated services through the establishment of a "one stop shop", as recommended by the Forde Inquiry. This initiative will be integrated with church and government run services and processes for bringing about reconciliation with victims of abuse in institutions. The focus will be on providing victim with the most effective path to healing. We are committed to continuing to provide such services as long as they are needed.

We recognise the value of formal reconciliation experiences in healing the hurt some have suffered, and undertake to plan these in consultation with former residents. We are committed to doing all we reasonably can to ensure that children in our care are not subject to abuse and neglect. Further, we are committed to ongoing review and improvement of our services to children and families.

Signed by
Peter Beattie, Premier
Anna Bligh, Minister for Families, Youth and Community Care and Minister for Disability Services
The Most Reverend John Bathersby DD, Catholic Archbishop of Brisbane
The Most Reverend Peter Hollingworth, Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane
Reverend Dr David Pitman, Moderator, Uniting Church in Australia (Qld Synod)
Hillmon Buckingham, Commissioner, Territorial Commander, Australia Eastern Territory, The Salvation Army
Bill Gynther, President, Baptist Union of Queensland
Reverend Peter Overton, Conference President, Churches of Christ in Queensland