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Survivors of thalidomide and their households will obtain a nationwide apology in federal parliament.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will difficulty the formal apology on November 29 within the Home of Representatives.
It is estimated there are 146 thalidomide survivors in Australia who’re registered with a assist program, though the precise quantity affected by the morning illness drug that prompted delivery defects is unknown.
The apology was one of many suggestions from a Senate report which was handed down in March 2019.
The report discovered that if the federal authorities had acted extra shortly when thalidomide was linked to delivery defects, 20 per cent of survivors could not have been affected.
Mr Albanese stated the apology can be a protracted overdue nationwide acknowledgement of what survivors had endured.
“The thalidomide tragedy is a darkish chapter within the historical past of our nation and the world,” he stated.
“In giving this apology, we’ll acknowledge all these infants who died and the households who mourn them, in addition to those that survived however whose lives had been made a lot more durable by the results of this horrible drug.”
The day after the apology, a nationwide memorial web site shall be unveiled on the shores of Lake Burley Griffin in Canberra, with the occasion to be attended by thalidomide survivors and their households.
The memorial was additionally a suggestion of the Senate report.
In November 1961, when thalidomide was linked to delivery defects, federal and state governments took no motion to ban the importation or sale of the drug.
A monetary assist bundle was unveiled by the federal authorities in 2020 for thalidomide survivors, which offered a one-off cost between $75,000 and $500,000, adopted by ongoing annual funds between $5000 and $60,000.
Well being Minister Mark Butler stated he hoped the apology would assist heal emotional wounds.
“So many moms and their infants had been let down by systemic failures that led to the thalidomide tragedy, and we must always mirror and apologise for it,” he stated.
“It’s tough at present to assume a tragedy like thalidomide might occur, and it is a sobering reminder of our responsibility to place in place measures to guard individuals from hurt.”
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