The Australian Federal Government will formally say sorry to the hundreds of thousands of people who were abused and neglected as children after being placed in institutions or foster care.
The Government will by the end of the year formally acknowledge and apologise to generations of so-called ''Forgotten Australians'' and child migrants who suffered physical, emotional and sexual abuse while in the care of government institutions, foster care and church organisations.
Families Minister Jenny Macklin said the level of abuse and neglect had been unacceptable and it was now time to issue a formal apology.
''Many former child migrants and other children who were in institutions, their families and the wider community have suffered from a system that did not adequately provide for, or protect, children in its care,'' Ms Macklin said.
The planned apology, which will also involve consultation with the Opposition, follows a number of Senate inquiries, all of which recorded horrific abuse and neglect of children.
The 2004 Forgotten Australians Senate report estimated that at least 500,000 children had been placed in more than 500 orphanages, homes or other forms of care during the last century - many because they were born to single mothers or were the victims of family break-ups or poverty.
The inquiry found a ''litany of emotional, physical and sexual abuse, and often criminal physical and sexual assault'' with widespread deprivation of food, education and health care.
Thousands of children were also sent from Britain to work in Australia up until the late 1960s.