A South Australian survivor of child sexual abuse says a public apology from the SA government would give him the closure he needs, adding the longer he waits, the more stress he is under.
Ki Meekins was in state care as a child in the 1960s, when he was taken interstate and abused.
He said receiving a public apology from the state government in parliament would help give him closure.
"So, I can put all this stuff, all this absolute, traumatic, nightmarish trauma, that has changed my life forever … I want to try and put all that behind me," he said.
The state government apologised to victims as a group, after Commissioner Ted Mullighan delivered his report on the abuse of children in state care.
But under the National Redress Scheme for people who have experienced institutional child sexual abuse, survivors can opt to receive a direct personal apology from the institutions that harmed them.
"The longer this goes on … it just basically puts me under further due stress," Mr Meekins said.
"[I'm] mentally, spiritually, and psychologically completely drained and exhausted."
Mr Meekins said he was due to receive a verbal apology from the Department for Child Protection later this month, but also wanted a personal apology from the Premier in parliament.
Mr Meekins said he had been telling his story for 27 years and was developing "battle fatigue".
"I haven't gone to war, I'm not a soldier, I'm just an ex-state ward, 57-year-old disability support pensioner, but I've actually got battle fatigue, and I didn't go to battle," he said.
Mr Meekins contacted SA Greens MLC Tammy Franks last year, who addressed the matter in SA parliament on Wednesday, saying "apologies matter" and it was a "reasonable request".
"How this apology is received is up to the person who has suffered the abuse," Mr Franks said.
"They are yet to receive any apology — written, verbal or public.
"They have been waiting years for an apology."
Direct response 'offered to all survivors'
Ms Franks asked the government when it would provide public apologies to survivors who requested it.
But Attorney-General Kyam Maher, speaking for the government, did not give a direct answer, but said he was "happy" to discuss it with the Minister for Child Protection, Katrine Hildyard.
In a statement, Ms Hildyard said her office has been "dealing directly" with an advocate for Mr Meekins.
"A Direct Personal Response team at DCP [Department for Child Protection] liaises with victim survivors of abuse in care to arrange a formal recognition of their experiences and acknowledgement of their trauma," Ms Hildyard said.
"A Direct Personal Response is offered to all victim survivors of institutional care.
"The DCP Redress and Response Team receive trauma-informed training and the redress liaison officers are trained social workers who can assist applicants through the process.
"My office has been dealing directly with this person's advocate on their request."
Ms Hildyard noted that former premier Mike Rann in 2008 issued a formal apology from the SA parliament to people who were abused as children while in state care, and that, a decade later, the federal government apologised on behalf of the nation to the thousands of survivors of institutional child sex abuse.
"South Australia is a participant of the National Redress Scheme, formed following the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse," she said.
