Case Study - Government of South Australia Overview On 18 July 2012, South Australia became the second state to formally apologize for forced adoption in Australia. They needed to deliver a live, online, video webcast of a formal apology led by South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill for viewing across South Australia and worldwide by affected individuals and families. Business Challenge Not surprisingly, because of the unusual nature of the event, there were numerous challenges that needed to be overcome to achieve the South Australian Parliament’s objectives. Because there were many who — due to time or cost constraints or personal privacy issues — would not be able to witness the apology in person at Parliament House, the Department of the Premier and Cabinet wanted a way to broadcast this personal, socially, and politically sensitive event live, that would enable viewers to truly feel like they had been present for the apologies. Business Benefits Provided a high-definition webcast of the formal government apologies viewed at more than 70 online sites, as well as throughout Parliament House and in a nearby hotel’s ballroom Enabled easy recording, efficient editing, and quick posting of the webcast online so people who couldn’t tune in to the live stream could view it at their convenience Offered the flexibility of working within the limitations imposed by Parliament House staff while delivering a high-quality webcast Respected the social and political sensitivities at all times and protected the privacy of the affected individuals who watched the webcast Ensured highly intuitive and reliable performance for both Department of Education and Child Development team members and for viewers around the globe

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In the past, many in Australian society considered
pregnancy outside marriage to be unacceptable.
Because of this, beginning soon after World War II
and continuing through the 1970s, tens of thousands
of vulnerable unmarried mothers were pressured by
Australian authorities and hospitals — both state-run
and privately operated, often with religious affiliations
— to give up their babies for adoption. These mothers
were denied information about various alternatives
including the availability of welfare services and financial
help for single mothers.
The end result was that women who were never
determined to be unfit mothers were subjected to unfair
and sometimes illegal practices — with thousands of
newborn babies taken from their mothers and given to
other families to raise.
In early 2012, an Australian Senate committee
conducted an inquiry that exposed these practices. In
many cases, unwed mothers were forced to leave their
families and live in special maternity homes until they
delivered. The newborns were removed immediately
after birth, typically with the mothers not even allowed
to hold their babies. At its peak, more than 10,000
babies annually were taken away through secret,
“closed” adoptions.
Saba Meeting — supported
by the skilled DECD team —
performed exceptionally well
in reaching affected mothers,
children, and families throughout
South Australia and worldwide.
Roger Edmonds
Online Collaboration Services Officer
Department of Education Children’s Services
Challenge
Deliver a live, online, video webcast of a formal apology
led by South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill for
viewing across South Australia and worldwide by
affected individuals and families.
Benefits
• Provided a high-definition webcast of the formal
government apologies viewed at more than 70
online sites, as well as throughout Parliament House
and in a nearby hotel’s ballroom
• Enabled easy recording, efficient editing, and quick
posting of the webcast online so people who
couldn’t tune in to the live stream could view it
at their convenience
• Offered the flexibility of working within the limitations
imposed by Parliament House staff while delivering
a high-quality webcast
• Respected the social and political sensitivities at
all times and protected the privacy of the affected
individuals who watched the webcast
• Ensured highly intuitive and reliable performance
for both Department of Education and Child
Development team members and for viewers
around the globe
Government of South Australia uses Saba Meeting to stream video apology for past forced
adoption practices to broad public audience.
Case Study
Industry: Government, Civilian
Use Case: Video and Web Conferencing
Government of
South Australia

2. Case Study Government of South Australia
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provided Internet access and easily supplied the
bandwidth needed for the webcast.
Extensive customization of the registration interface
on the Saba Meeting web page was also required to
protect the privacy of affected individuals who chose
to tune in to the webcast. Some mothers had never
told anyone about having a child taken away through
forced adoption and these individuals would expect
full confidentiality including a registration process that
wouldn’t require personal details when logging in.
Picture of Performance
When the day arrived for the apologies to take place,
Saba Meeting earned an A+ — fully meeting the
requirements to deliver a quality 640 x 480 pixel
high-definition webcast of this personal, socially, and
politically sensitive event that would enable viewers to
truly feel like they had been present for the apologies.
In addition to the live webcast, the event was
quickly edited in Saba Recording Studio immediately
afterwards and was then posted online to allow
interested people to access the event at any time.
The recording can still be viewed at http://saapology.
sa.gov.au.
In the end, Saba Meeting — supported by the skilled
DECD team — performed exceptionally well in reaching
affected mothers, children, and families throughout
South Australia and worldwide. The DECD team was
congratulated by the director of Statewide Services
for its invaluable contributions in streaming this
significant moment in South Australia’s history to a
global audience.
In the state of South Australia, it has been estimated
that approximately 17,000 children were affected by
these practices. On July 18, 2012, in an extraordinary
special sitting of the South Australian Parliament in
Adelaide, Premier Jay Weatherill and other government
officials represented the second state since the senate
inquiry to extend official apologies to the parents,
children, and families who were involved.
Because there were many who — due to time or cost
constraints or personal privacy issues — would not
be able to witness the apology in person at Parliament
House, the Department of the Premier and Cabinet
wanted a way to broadcast the apologies live. The
answer was Saba Meeting — a comprehensive, easy-
to-use web conferencing solution with HD video.
A Familiar Tool
The South Australian Department for Education and
Child Development (DECD) has more than a decade of
experience using Saba technology in both daily K–12
education and as a window to bring real-world events
into South Australian classrooms and to global
audiences. Saba Meeting has been used to stream
such events and activities as the Panda Ambassadors
at the Adelaide Zoo, Adelaide Writers Week, Dolphins
at Port Adelaide, and the BioSub project — in addition
to enabling the South Australian school system to
better serve students living in remote areas as well as
those who have special needs.
The DECD team headed by Enver Malkic and Roger
Edmonds set up a professional-quality, high-definition
(HD) camera in the Parliament House chamber to
provide the live video feed. This was converted into
digital output and fed into Saba Meeting, running on
a notebook computer being used to host the event.
Audio was picked up from the existing feed within
Parliament House.
Saba Meeting allowed the sponsors — the Department
of the Premier and Cabinet and Statewide Services
Families SA — to stream the event to more than 70
locations online. This included Families SA offices
across South Australia, where groups of affected
individuals came together to view the webcast, as well
as other remote sites worldwide.
The Saba Meeting feed was also displayed on TV
monitors throughout Parliament House and in a
ballroom at a nearby hotel, where several hundred
people who couldn’t be accommodated in Parliament
House watched.
Addressing Challenges
Not surprisingly, because of the unusual nature of the
event, there were numerous challenges that needed
to be overcome to achieve the South Australian
Parliament’s objectives.
Parliament House staff placed strict limitations inside
the chamber for scoping, rehearsing, and webcasting
the live event. The DECD could only film from one
position in the gallery, could never focus the camera
on any member of the audience, and had to work
within a number of technical constraints at the venue.
One obstacle for Malkic and Edmonds and the DECD
team was that there was no public Internet access
in Parliament House. To address this, the DECD
brought in a portable wireless base station. That device