Substantial evidence was provided to the Committee of physical, psychological and sexual abuse of these young people, who included real orphans as well as the children of unmarried mothers and others taken from their families for a variety of reasons, many of whom were told they were orphans. Many of the reports of abuse related to the treatment of these children in Australia. The response of the Australian government, as outlined by the Minister, includes facilitating access to records for surviving child migrants, but little in the way of compensation or current assistance. In line with government policy in other areas, there will be no official apology. The document provides useful statistical information about population growth and prospects in Australia with projections into the future based on various options for immigration and natural population growth.
Major birthplaces remain overwhelmingly the UK, New Zealand and Europe.
The latest report gives serious attention to non-permanent migrants. The report is published on the internet as a collection of PDF files. The Minister has been travelling around the Middle East over the past few weeks, visiting Jordan, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan, and dropping in on Indonesia on the way back. The Minister's concern, however, is with the people transiting these countries from two major sources, Iraq and Afghanistan, whose claims to be genuine refugees cannot be denied by the Australian government once they reach our shores. The simple bureaucratic response, easily understood by the regimes visited by the Minister, is to stop them getting here.