Fremantlebiz - Paul's Letter from Australia

The Federal Apology

It's possible that the timing of PM Kevin Rudd's formal apology to Aborigines who were for a variety of reasons taken into 'care' in the past was deliberately chosen as the 13th of February, because the 14th is St Valentine's Day. For Aboriginal political activists the 14th might be too easily recalled as the date that Labor's love was lost.

The history of indigenous people in Australia is complex. The federal apology on Wednesday relates to the social isolation felt by people of mixed descent who were removed from their families on the basis of various state and federal governments' policies established during the twentieth century - between 1910 and 1970.

Modernist interpretations would have it that all these removals were unjustified, but of course children were being exposed to neglect and danger in domestic situations then, just as still happens today.

Another factor in the removals was a racialist theory that children of mixed ancestry would stand a better chance of integration if they were separated from Aboriginal culture and raised in the 'mainstream' by zealous missionaries and government sponsored institutions. For some children this was a disaster, while for others there seemingly have been few regrets.

But the reality would seem to be that the actions were the cause of psychological damage for most people, and in a number of cases the associated bitterness and heartache has also been transferred to subsequent generations.

The issues are wide ranging. Anyone who is interested in the subject in depth is better advised to download Bringing them home: The stolen children report (1997) from the website of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. It's a huge document with many personal accounts of often sad experiences.

One of the many recommendations of the report was that some sort of formal government apology be tendered to people who saw themselves as victims. This was rejected by the former PM Mr Howard, who held that the present generation couldn't be held accountable for actions of others in the past. Mr Rudd on the other hand sees an apology simply as tidying up unfinished government business. It was one of his election promises.

One of the other recommendations of the report was that victims be granted financial compensation. This has been rejected by Mr Rudd, but it hasn't prevented some Aboriginal people from expecting a windfall. For them an apology will be nothing without cash. Some of the most public advocates for compensation have been very vocal and antagonistic. I suspect their utterances may be rapidly hardening the attitudes of the wider non-Aboriginal community.

For Western Australians, the federal apology comes at time when probably every week there are media reports of violent crimes being perpetrated by young Aborigines. Robberies and assaults by them are common here and, there is no cure in sight.

I haven't mentioned it previously, but two weeks ago my wife and I were in the local Coles supermarket and there was a woman and a young boy of about ten cruising the aisles collecting stuff. The woman was abusing other customers including us as she passed. A few minutes later there was a commotion at the front of the store. The woman and her young apprentice had done a runner with the bags of stuff and were never seen again.

I suppose a lot of people who have been exposed to such crimes by Aborigines will have little sympathy for the currently hostile calls for direct monetary compensation to people who have become known as the 'stolen generation.'

I'd like to include two other links. One is to a federal parliament library report released a few days ago. ‘Sorry’: the unfinished business of the Bringing Them Home summarises many of the issues which have contributed to the decision by Prime Minister Rudd to make the apology on Wednesday. Apparently it will be telecast live to the nation.

The other link is to a Western Australian government website with the maladroit name of Redress WA. The program doesn't commence until May this year. Interestingly it says there is provision for financial compensation, and a personal apology. Importantly though, it attempts to address the issues of non-Aborigines as well as Aborigines who became neglected victims as a result of government social policies. Mr Rudd might have been wiser to take the same tack.

© MMVIII Paul R. Weaver.

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