Joanna Gash (Gilmore, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker, congratulations on your elevation to this spot. It is good to see a woman like you in this position; thank you.

Where do I start? There are some in my electorate who want me to stand here and apologise on their behalf for a period in our history we have coined ‘the stolen generations’. There are others who are equally emphatic that there is nothing to apologise for. There are some who say an apology is a personal thing and that I do not have the moral authority to be so presumptuous as to apologise on their behalf. There are some who simply do not care one way or another—and then there are those who expect to see the words before we go to parliament. Somewhere in that continuum rests the ideal solution.

So, after giving it much thought, I decided that I could only speak for myself, and those who agree with me or disagree with me are entitled to their thoughts. I have had a long association with local Aboriginal communities, especially through their elders, and I want to especially thank Auntie Nola Roberts for her mentoring, advice and friendship.

When my own daughter was born in the hospital some 46 years ago I was asked if I would breastfeed another baby, a beautiful Aboriginal child who I desperately wanted to adopt and who is now a well respected member of the community and a mother in her own right. During the time of the reconciliation walk I, Joanna Gash, did apologise for those inhumane acts perpetrated on Aboriginal families through government policy prevailing at that time. However, I do not recall anyone at the time saying: thanks, Jo, that really meant something. In fact, the apology imperative had become so ritualised by that time that any sincerity expressed took a back seat.

Today as we stand here uttering sorry, I wonder how many of us are doing so because we really feel it—or we are just doing it as a grand gesture? I come from Europe, Holland, where Anne Frank, a Jewess, suffered through oppression of her race. She suffered vilification, hatred, was hunted down, captured and eventually exterminated. Europe has a long history of ethnic oppression and vilification, and so too do Africa, Asia, the Americas and every other continent and landmass in the world, with the exception perhaps of the Antarctic. It is an inherent human trait to dominate each other but it is also an inherently human trait to learn and to change.

As we grow older and learn from our experiences, our views change. Our evolving individual maturity is no different to the society that we share. We grow, we learn, we evolve and part of that evolutionary process is to recognise that some of the things that we did in our past were not right and that they caused harm. Over time our society, like every other society throughout mankind, has matured and will continue to do so.

At the time, the stolen generation intervention may have been seemed appropriate to the larger white population. To those that were subject to the intervention, it was an entirely different matter and remains so today. In fact, we can draw similar parallels with what is happening in some of our homes today where the government decrees that a child must be removed from dysfunctional and harmful households, ostensibly for the good of the child. Who is right and who is wrong? Only time will tell. But I can guarantee this: the authorities today, like those of 50 years ago or more, thought they had right on their side and acted within their consciences. I have no doubt that there were genuine cases at the time, warranting this type of intervention, and there were other cases that were totally unwarranted, unnecessary and counterproductive. I suspect that many Aboriginal children, removed from their families by the state, were removed arbitrarily almost as a form of process and procedure rather than through any perception of threat to their individual welfare. Simply put, it appears the state wanted to raise them as ‘whites’. Was it fair? Was it justified? Was it beneficial? In the fullness of time, the prevailing mood is that we need to move on, but, until we apologise to those genuinely aggrieved, we will be held back by the lack of it.

I note that the state governments have all apologised in their own right and that leaves only the Commonwealth. But, I would like to emphasise the need for this gesture to be seen as genuine and not contrived. If I am part of a parliament making this apology, in all its sincerity, then I do not want it to be exploited for another agenda. My apology is offered in good faith so that we can all grow together undivided with forgiveness from the beneficiaries of our apology. Until there is a full moral reconciliation, the era of the stolen generations will remain like a millstone around our collective necks. So, to those that were unjustifiably and immorally taken from their families, I am sorry for the injustices that you have suffered. I am sorry that we as a nation are not mature enough to see that we were misguided.

I call upon those aggrieved victims to find it in their hearts to forgive and to have the maturity and courage to acknowledge that those not involved should not be punished for the sins of their fathers. It is time for the wounds to heal and I want to be part of the healing process. It is now time for leadership. We want to know, after this apology, what next? How will the circumstances change? What changes will be made by the Rudd government? I was very pleased to see the bipartisan support for that committee, not just in words but in constructive actions and positive results, so we as Australians can walk the same path together. It makes me feel ashamed when I hear of the reports of abuse and that I can do nothing about it. I apologise to Joyce Donovan of the victim support group in the Illawarra and thank her and her supporters for the excellent work they do. I apologise that I have still not achieved the safe house for women.

The question I ask is: will this apology stop drug and alcohol abuse, stop child abuse, resolve the homeless problem, stop domestic violence, stop the high rate of infant mortality, stop all those things that have plagued the Indigenous community so long that even their leaders are saying, enough is enough? This is a question that is equally directed at both the government and the Aboriginal community. What can we do to stop all this?

In conclusion, can I mention that the Bomaderry Mission, in my electorate of Gilmore, will be 100 years old in May and they were not invited to the parliament for the apology. They were very upset about that.

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