These are the real people all politicians conveniently forgot

Peter Dutton is looking for the new version of the ‘quiet Australians’ – but he mustn’t have been searching very hard.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton and leader of the National party David Littleproud announce the members of the shadow cabinet at the Comm Gov offices in, Brisbane. Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Where have all the “quiet Australians” gone? After the 2019 miracle election, the term was one with which we became quite – some would say too – familiar. It captured the imagination of many, especially in the media. There was even promotional footage of one TV host, sitting in a darkened set, whispering into the microphone, that “shhhhhhh, puleeze”, he was trying to hear the quiet Australians talking.

This spectacle exemplified the pinnacle of political delusion from those who displayed unconditional support for a government that was judged by the majority at the first available opportunity to be unworthy of office.

The last prime minister’s quiet Australians ended up being non-existent or at best unreliable because they delivered the worst loss for the Coalition in 70 years.

The disappointment in the quiet Australians is great now because everyone is doing their best to forget they ever existed. They are instead replaced by another cohort: “forgotten Australians” who suddenly are worth being remembered.

We don’t know much about this new mob, but from what the Opposition Leader says they are in the suburbs and regions and small businesses. Just where the line is drawn between the inner and outer suburbs, and small and large business, is a mystery. There are middle suburbs and mid-size businesses but this, too, seems to have been forgotten.

Nevertheless, these forgotten people carry the hopes and dreams of many.

If Peter Dutton can divine their wishes, they will bring him to victory at the next election, or at least the one after that. So buckle up because we are going to hear an awful lot about them, from now on. So much so that you may well wish everyone would just forget all about them.

Now, though, the curious may have questions. How is a forgotten person identified? Who forgot them, when were they forgotten, how were they forgotten and why? Is a forgotten person the same as a quiet Australian, and how will the opposition try to appeal to them?

Seeking clarity, The Weekend Australian put these queries to Dutton’s office this week, but unfortunately there were no answers to report.

In case you find this tone too mocking, there is a serious side to this discussion and it is important. Although the term was coined last century, there actually are around 500,000 “forgotten Australians”, as formally defined and registered by the Commonwealth of Australia, after a Senate inquiry by the Howard government in 2004.

A Senate report, Forgotten Australians: A Report on Australians Who Experienced Institutional or Out-of-Home Care as Children, defines a forgotten Australian as a person who experienced care in an orphanage, home or other form of out-of-home care during the past century.

The forgotten Australians, as children, were placed in care for myriad reasons. They might have been orphaned; born to a single mother; suffered family dislocation from domestic violence, divorce or separation, family poverty and parents’ inability to cope. Many were made wards of the state; others were placed in care in private homes.

The Senate committee received hundreds of graphic and disturbing accounts about the treatment dished out to our forgotten Australians. Their stories outlined widespread emotional, physical and sexual abuse, criminal physical and sexual assault, neglect, humiliation and deprivation of food, education and healthcare, and a devastating lack of love, affection and nurturing.

The report found the long-term impact on our forgotten Australians was a lack of trust and security, interpersonal and life skills that are acquired through a normal family upbringing, especially social and parenting skills, and a lifelong inability to initiate and maintain stable, loving relationships.

Many forgotten Australians remain loners, never marrying or living an isolated existence, and many struggle with employment and housing issues.

The legacy of the forgotten Australians’ childhood experiences is low self-esteem, lack of confidence, depression, fear and distrust, anger, shame, guilt, obsessiveness, social anxieties, phobias and recurring nightmares. Many have tried to block the pain of their past by resorting to substance abuse through lifelong alcohol and drug addictions. Many turned to illegal practices; a large percentage of the prison population comprises forgotten Australians. The report noted that anecdotal evidence had shown an abnormally large percentage of suicides among our forgotten Australians. Further, the children and families of forgotten Australians also have suffered as trauma flows down the line.

The report made a number of recommendations, and most were ignored, but various governments have made some attempts to apologise and offer redress, however inadequate. More could, and should, be done.

Forgotten Australians didn’t choose the label, it was given to them by the federal parliament. Now, without acknowledgment, their label is being taken and applied elsewhere. How do you think every one of these 500,000 people feels when they hear themselves being talked about as someone else?

All politicians may want to remember our real forgotten Australians and their experiences. It may be wise to not appropriate their identity and status to an imaginary group, and add insult to existing and significant injury.