The Wire

The Western Australian government will be the first to publicly apologise to unwed mothers who were unlawfully separated from their babies after giving birth. The practice was common in Australia from the 1940s until the 1980s. WA Premier Colin Barnett will read the apology in State Parliament this evening. The state’s health minister Dr Kim Hames, who referred to the situation as ‘another stolen generation,’ said the apology aimed to recognise that mothers were deprived of their right to make an informed decision about giving away their babies. But Origins Inc. an organisation which campaigns for those separated by adoption, says an apology just isn’t good enough.