MARK COLVIN: The Prime Minister has delivered an emotional apology to the half a million Australians who suffered abuse at the hands of their carers in institutions, orphanages and foster care.
The formal apology recognises the deprivation, pain and exploitation experienced by half a million Australians sent into state care and thousands of child migrants from Britain and Malta.
Kevin Rudd read the apology to hundreds of survivors who had gathered in the Great Hall at Parliament House. Then it was formally moved in the Federal Parliament.
The Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull supported the motion, weeping as he described the appalling treatment suffered by many children.
From Canberra, Alexandra Kirk reports.
ALEXANDRA KIRK: Even before they heard the word they've waited so long for, the tears started flowing. They came from all over the country, the pain etched on many of their faces.
KEVIN RUDD: We come together today to deal with an ugly chapter in our nation's history. And we come together today to offer our nation's apology; to say to you, the 'forgotten Australians', and those who were sent to our shores as children without their consent, that we are sorry.
Sorry that as children you were taken from your families and placed in institutions where so often you were abused. Sorry for the physical suffering, the emotional starvation and the cold absence of love, of tenderness, of care.
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From: Tears flow as nation hears apology
Many tears were shed today as Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered the historic apology to the hundreds of thousands of Forgotten Australians.
Almost 1,000 men and women travelled from around Australia to hear Mr Rudd and Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull apologise for the abuse, neglect and suffering they endured in foster care and orphanages between the 1920s and 1970s.
Mr Rudd also extended the nation's remorse to the 7,000 child migrants, most of whom travelled to Australia from the UK under the mistaken belief that their parents had died.
Addressing the crowd who gathered in Parliament House's Great Hall, he says the apology should mark a turning point in the nation's history to ensure it is never repeated.
Mr Rudd says it is important to acknowledge "great evil has been done".
Mary Smith says she is glad she made the effort to come from Western Australia to hear the apology.
"It made me cry. I said it wasn't going to make me cry but it did," she said.
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