home | news l

Australia's apology is the right decision

By Ella Davison

20 February 2008 -Jakarta Post - Australia officially apologized to the Aboriginal stolen generation on Wednesday, in a long-waited landmark occasion.

As its first action on the second day of sitting, the 42nd Parliament, represented by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, apologized to Aboriginal citizens who were taken from their families by welfare officers, between approximately the late 1800s through to the 1960s, in compliance with the White Australia policy.

According to this policy, half-caste children were to be removed (forcibly if necessary) from their homes and taken to children's homes or fostered out to white families. This also included full-blooded indigenous children whose living conditions the welfare officer deemed be unsafe or unsatisfactory.

After a decade under John Howard, it seemed that an apology to the stolen generation would be impossible, as the former prime minister continued to disregard the recommendations of several significant national reports and members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

In recent years, the plight of indigenous Australians has come into focus before the public eye time and time again, only to fade out again after initial media attention. Statistically this group has a shorter life expectancy, lower rates of literacy and higher rates of substance abuse and sexual abuse than the average Australian.

In the past, the government perpetuated the myth that to apologize was to accept some form of responsibility and that in the aftermath of an apology, reparations claims might tumble a government faced with millions of dollars in payouts.

In fact, claims have been ongoing for decades, made by children removed from their homes -- now elderly citizens -- for compensation for harm inflicted by welfare officers and the White Australia program.

There have been attempts at reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians in the past, most notably the Walk for Reconciliation in 2000, which saw thousands of people march across bridges around the country in a gesture of support for a settlement. However, more often than not, non-indigenous white Australia has been physically and mentally removed from the socio-economic conditions of the indigenous communities in the outback.

A 1994 government investigation spurred by United Nations Bill of Human Rights first drew attention to the "case of Aboriginal human rights problems".

A sub-committee visiting remote Aboriginal settlements in the Northern Territory reported "third world conditions" there and discovered "first-hand their (Aboriginal) problems in relation to health, water, sewage, housing and education". This, the sub-committee said, showed "the extent of the gap between theory and practice".

The 1997 "Bringing Them Home" report detailed stories of indigenous people who were taken from home, cut off from family and sometimes informed of the whereabouts of their parents only just after they had passed away.

At the time there was a general feeling amongst the Australian public, particularly amongst indigenous communities, that this report would be a catalyst for change and cause the government to be more vocal and proactive in seeking change.

However, in the past decade, national and international media coverage of the prevalence of substance abuse, domestic violence, and sexual abuse in indigenous communities has been extensive and perhaps counterproductive.

Some would argue the indigenous peoples' greatest hurdle is that the general public is ignorant of their situation, but I believe a lack of empathy shown by the Howard government has filtered down to the lower echelons of society and created an apathetic attitude towards those who are suffering the most.

Most recently, the "Little Children Are Sacred" report, released last year, detailed multi-generational cycles of sexual abuse. Non-indigenous Australia responded with shock and disgust and Howard government responded swiftly with intervention alternatives ranging from bans on alcohol and pornography to sending in the military. The quarantining of welfare payments, compulsory acquisition of land for five-year "leases" and compulsory medical checks for children under 15 were also proposed.

This was perceived as heavy-handed and a last minute election bid by the Howard government to gain favor amongst urban Australia with its need to see action against sexual abuse in indigenous communities.

What Howard never seemed to understand was that the first step towards reconciliation was always going to be a heartfelt and inclusive apology that would recognize the atrocities of the past whose effects continue to plague indigenous Australia.

Whilst it is yet to be seen whether the aftermath of this official apology will have any long-term effect on the wellbeing of indigenous people, it is clear that Kevin Rudd has realized that the welfare of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders relies on Australia's recognition of their role as First Australians.

The writer is a journalism student from Australia who did an internship with The Jakarta Post.

Source: The Jakarta Post

Further information: 'sorry' and stolen generations issues page - includes news index and external links

|| click to go to the top of this page