Kay Elson (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this motion today. Having travelled to many Aboriginal settlements in remote Australia and seen firsthand some of the serious issues these isolated communities face, I have a very strong personal interest in Aboriginal health and welfare. In the final sentences of this motion, the member for Jagajaga talks about ‘the continuing adverse social, physical and mental health outcomes’ of the so-called stolen generation. I am strongly of the opinion that the saddest and single worst ongoing outcome of the national obsession with the notion of a ‘stolen generation’ is the reluctance to remove today’s Indigenous children from living in situations that place them in extreme danger. There have been many reports about violence, sexual abuse and neglect in Aboriginal communities. We all know it exists. There have been a lot of well documented cases and much political discussion.

I myself raised this issue during a grievance debate in 1988. Back then I quoted Courier-Mail journalist Laurie Kavanagh, who at the time had said:

... the community compassion [about this issue] is exactly the same as that which drove past governments to save the lives of mixed-race children, the so-called ‘stolen generation’. I find that ironic and hope any action taken to stop the bashing of innocent Aboriginal women and children today will be seen by future generations for what it is ... community action to protect the innocent.

Unfortunately, I do not believe enough action has been taken in the past nine years since to stop the violence and the abuse in Aboriginal communities. Motions like this one that we are debating continue to dwell on perceived past injustices rather than address the concerns of today’s Indigenous women and children. The fact is there has been much injustice meted out in the past—and not just in Indigenous communities. In the same time period that the stolen generation was alleged to have taken place, we had boatloads of young English children separated from the only life that they had ever known and sent to Australia. We had a society where the adopting out of babies was forced on unmarried women. These were very different times and society had a very different approach to a whole range of matters. Unfortunately what occurred in Aboriginal communities last century has been viewed this century through a moral prism that assumes the motives of those involved in it were racist. I believe that is plain wrong.

Furthermore, the focus has been on the disadvantage that these people suffered by being separated from their families. But there has been little or no focus on the advantages they gained by being removed from what in many cases were very unhealthy and dangerous situations. It is certainly not the claimed members of the stolen generation whose children and grandchildren are the most disadvantaged Indigenous Australians at present; it is those living in remote settlements, not those in cities and regional areas. A report by the Australian Institute of Family Studies found that in 2002-03 the rates of substantiated reports of child maltreatment in Indigenous communities were, on average, 4.3 times higher than those for non-Indigenous children. In the Northern Territory it was 5.5 times higher. In South Australia it was 6.6 times higher. These are only the substantiated reports. Studies show that, especially in Indigenous communities, the majority of incidences of violence go unreported. This is the issue we should be focusing on—that and the fact that the life expectancy for Indigenous Australians is about 17 years less than for the rest of us. That is an appalling figure, and one we have to collectively work together to address.

I know how hard the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough, is working to address Aboriginal disadvantage. I think he is doing a great job. The government largely had its hands tied in the past, with ATSIC being responsible for these matters. It was a strong decision and the right decision to abolish ATSIC three years ago, and the progress that has been made since is significant. I know the minister is devoting a huge amount of time and resources and taking a holistic approach to addressing issues like housing, health, employment opportunities and changing the culture of violence. He is doing it on a community-by-community basis because he knows that a ‘one size fits all’ approach will not work. He is working closely with the state and territory governments because issues like enforcing law and order and providing educational opportunities are largely the responsibility of the states and territories. This is a constructive approach that focuses on genuine assistance—not symbolic gestures or just throwing more money at the problem. Real reconciliation will not be found in saying sorry for something done long ago by well-meaning people. Real reconciliation will not come by providing more services, as this motion calls for, to feed a guilt industry that does not actually help the most disadvantaged Indigenous people. I respectfully suggest to the member for Jagajaga that there are more serious, more pressing and more important issues today when it comes to addressing Aboriginal disadvantage than dwelling on the past—as she does with this motion. Indeed, continuing to do so actually holds back real progress in the Aboriginal community.

See this speech in context