Dr. Mary Lodato:

One of the good things that has come out of this whole process is that, as a group, we have come back together from those institutions, even if it is only briefly. We have also met others who have been in them, and reconnected to this land, even with this pain. People did not leave through choice; they had to get out of here because they had such a brutal experience this country. There is a longing in their old age to come home, even for a brief visit, but there is nowhere for them to come to. People here get a free bus pass when they reach 66 years of age and they can travel all over the country. Could that not be facilitated to help them in some way to return here, even if it is for one visit? Will they have somewhere to stay? That is the other issue. They have no connections. Families are completely broken.

They want to tell their stories as well. They feel very upset by the indemnity clause in the redress scheme and that their records have been hidden away for 75 years. That is a real bone of contention with many survivors. They want to be able to tell their story. How do we do that? We cannot keep hiding this. We have to confront the pain, the suffering and the atrocities that happened. Until we do that, we will never move forward.