jenny cares 

13 February 2008- The Stolen Generations*: Australia says Sorry

As the first official parliamentary act of his government, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologised to his Aboriginal countrymen. “For the indignity and degradation... inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry... "

A thick 1997 report, Bringing Them Home, brought these stories to the attention of white Australians. As Rudd said, "There is something terribly primal about these firsthand accounts. The pain is searing; it screams from the pages. The hurt, the humiliation, the degradation and the sheer brutality of the act of physically separating a mother from her children is a deep assault on our senses and on our most elemental humanity.”
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Sadly, many of the opposition (Liberals) demonstrated that they weren't sorry...

Booing, Backpeddling and Boycotting
Several Liberals (Sophie Mirabella, Alby Schultz, Don Randall and Wilson Tuckey) avoided the ceremony. Victorian Liberal Chris Pearce refused to stand at the end of the speeches and called the ceremony a "pantomime".

Speaking after the Prime Minister, Liberal's leader at that time, Dr Nelson, delivered a heavily qualified speech and attemped to balance the competing views within his party (ranging from support to outright hostility). Although the motion was about apologising for mistreatment of indigenous Australians by past governments, Dr Nelson spent considerable time concentrating on the plight of indigenous Australians today. He defended ex PM John Howard's 'emergency intervention' in the Northern Territory. Dr Nelson then delved into Australia's military history to stress that not everything done by past generations was bad.

Nelson was defensive of the need to take children from their families. "Our generation does not own these actions, nor should it feel guilt for what was done in many, but not all cases, with the best of intentions. Even when motivated by inherent humanity and decency to reach out to the dispossessed in extreme adversity, our actions can have unintended outcomes. As such, many decent Australians are hurt by accusations of theft in relation to their good intentions."

'Stolen Generations' or 'Forcibly Removed'?
Dr Nelson pointedly declined to use the term "stolen generations", preferring instead "forcibly removed". He implied that others also suffered the same trauma by mentioning that his own father was adopted out at birth after being conceived out of wedlock.

Reactions To Dr Nelson's Speech Outside on the lawn, the crowd watching on a big screen began to hiss and boo. People chanted to "get him off". In the chamber, the indigenous people who packed the public galleries maintained a respectful silence. In Perth, the broadcast was switched off after crowds began to clap and turn their backs.
[Adapted from news in SydneyMorningHerald]
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But still our politicians tinker around the edges. Politicians can't change the price of petrol. But they can have the courage to implement long-term transport solutions.
View this ad and push our politicians to resist short-term petrol populism and invest in real solutions:

           www.getup.org.au/campaign/FuelWatch
 
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The GetUp team
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