Overview

• Australia's Parliament has issued a national apology to survivors of the harmful morning sickness drug thalidomide on the 62nd anniversary of the drug being withdrawn from sale in the country.
• Prime Minister Anthony Albanese offered a 'full unreserved and overdue apology' to all thalidomide survivors, their families, loved ones, and carers, acknowledging one of the darkest chapters in Australia's medical history.
• A Senate inquiry in 2019 recommended the apology, and the government will fulfill another recommendation by opening a memorial in Canberra in recognition of thalidomide survivors and their families.
• Australia established a support program in 2020 providing lifelong assistance to 148 survivors, and the government is reopening the program to survivors who have yet to register.
• A class-action lawsuit by Australian and New Zealand thalidomide survivors against the drug’s British distributor Diageo Scotland Ltd. was settled a decade ago for 89 million Australian dollars ($81 million).