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New group forms for tenth Sorry Day

By Perth Correspondent KEN BOASE

17 January 2007 - "We still have high respect and regard for the Sorry Day Committee, but I think that for the healing of this country, if we're going to be held up by one person refusing to give an apology, then it's holding us all back." Debra Hocking, former Chair of the NSDC and convenor of the new group due to be launched next month

A new national organisation has been set up as an alternative to the National Sorry Day Committee (NSDC) in the lead-up to the 26 May tenth anniversary of the Bringing Them Home report to Federal Parliament. The new group has not yet been named officially, but those involved say it will focus on ‘truth, justice and healing’ as a way of moving on from insisting on a national apology from the Prime Minister. Current PM John Howard has refused to budge on the issue.

The decision to form the new group was taken during a national telephone hook-up last Tuesday involving 20 delegates, about half of whom are still members of NSDC, which many say will now probably collapse as a national organisation.

The new group's convenor is the NSDC's current Indigenous Chair and Tasmanian delegate, Debra Hocking, who said she would resign from the NSDC before the new group was formally launched next month.

"I need to talk to my executive about that but I think it would make sense for me to resign from the NSDC," said Ms Hocking, who has been associated with Sorry Day in Tasmania for the past six years. "I don't think it's healthy for me to remain in both organisations."

Other priorities

Ms Hocking said the new organisation was formed because the NSDC's main objective was an apology from the Prime Minister, and all delegates to the new group agreed there were other priorities for Stolen Generation members still traumatised from their experiences.

"While we acknowledge that we still do not have a formal apology by the Prime Minister, there are other aspects from the Bringing Them Home report that need addressing," she said.

"One is justice and one is the healing and one is the truth. They're the things that we would like to address as an alternative body.

"We still have high respect and regard for the Sorry Day Committee, but I think that for the healing of this country, if we're going to be held up by one person refusing to give an apology, then it's holding us all back.

"Talking to the states and territories around the country, a lot of the statements were ‘people have said sorry, all of our parliaments have said sorry, our communities have said sorry.’

"People have said to me 'what more do you want us to do?' which is a justified comment. And I'm sure that the wider community would certainly join us in the movement but I think that they've said sorry, they're looking for other things and we need to provide it."

Ms Hocking said truth and justice would be the focus of the new group to help provide healing for members of the Stolen Generations.

"One of the main inhibitors that's happened in our country is telling the truth, and without the Bringing Them Home Report, we still wouldn't know a lot of the truth. But I still think there are parts of our history that do need to be addressed.

"It's being honest, it's about being healthy about what your country has been based on.
"And the justice, well we know there's still a lot of justice to be done when we look at issues like Palm Island."

The formation of the new group could mean a dual approach to the 10th anniversary of Sorry Day, but Ms Hocking said that there was room for both organisations and she would be trying hard to work with the NSDC.

"It's not about working against, you know I have had enough of that. You beat your heads against one another and it doesn't work," she said. "It's time to start working together and the new group of people that we've got, and some of them are from the old committee, but hey, they've hung in there.

"They're well committed and already we're having some great meetings. We're productive, we're getting things happening and that's what it's all about."

Racism

Some delegates to the new group, who did not wish to be named, said problems with the NSDC included blatant racism against non-Aboriginal delegates and questions around the status of the Queensland Committee which had been under administration since March last year.

The Northern Territory and Kimberley committees withdrew from the NSDC last September.
The Koori Mail will examine the repercussions for the NSDC in coming editions.

Source: The Koori Mail

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