John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

I stand here this afternoon to support the Prime Minister’s motion on the apology to Australia ‘s Indigenous peoples. Last Wednesday in this place we honoured the Indigenous people of our land. We honoured their past and looked with hope to the future. It was also a unique day to reflect on the blemished chapter in our nation’s history and the imperfect attempts over the years to right the wrongs of the past. It is almost 17 years since this House passed the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation Bill. That was a bill which set in train more than any other act the process of reconciliation in our country. It was a bill which brought about unprecedented bipartisan support for the cause of reconciliation.

Many members would recall the handshake between the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Robert Tickner, and the opposition spokesman, Michael Wooldridge, across the House of Representatives dispatch box. That was an important moment. It was a moment when parliamentarians, irrespective of their political persuasion, optimistically chose a path to reconciliation—a path that would heal the wounds of the past and recognise the tragic history of white settlement; a path that would acknowledge the dispossession of our Indigenous brothers and sisters of their land and their families. That act of parliament, that handshake, provided hope that matters of the heart and soul would be addressed once and for all. As Mr Tickner would tell the House, reconciliation was a process which was:

… intended to be substantially completed by the time of our most important national anniversary, the centenary of the establishment of the Australian nation. It is a process deliberately intended to shape the kind of country we will be in 2001 …

It is now 2008, seven years since the Centenary of Federation. Many Australians would agree that substantial reconciliation has not been achieved. Nonetheless, we will all again commit ourselves to succeeding in a test which we have so far failed.

Reconciliation cannot be measured solely in terms of resource allocation, the number of government interventions or the provision of welfare. Material progress is undoubtedly important; however, reconciliation necessarily demands much more than that. It involves matters of the heart. It involves matters of the mind, matters of the spirit. It is not hard to see why. Relations between numerous Australian governments and our Indigenous community have often been characterised by dysfunction, distrust and despair. Dysfunction, distrust and despair are understandable sentiments from members of a stolen generation that endured humiliating and degrading treatment at the hands of their government. At a conference of federal and state ministers and officials responsible for Aboriginal affairs in 1937, the Western Australian chief protector said: ‘The different states are creating institutions for the welfare of the native race and as a result of this policy the native race is increasing. What is to be the limit? Are we going to have a population of one million blacks in the Commonwealth or are we going to merge them into our white community and eventually forget that there were ever any Aboriginals in Australia?’

Linda Burney, a good friend and the first Indigenous member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, has previously stated that history for Aboriginal people is not something that is dead and gone. Given the magnitude of some of the atrocities committed, we must understand that many incidents that are of mere historical significance to us are living, breathing burdens that many Indigenous people carry every day of their lives. We acknowledge that distrust and despair is a historical experience of our Indigenous community. The heart of genuine reconciliation cried out for an apology for past wrongs—an apology for the indignity and degradation imposed on a proud people and proud culture, an apology for the systemic breaking up of families and communities and an apology for policies which did not rest on a need to prove children were actually in harm but saw the mere fact of Aboriginality as a source of harm.

In his Redfern speech, former Prime Minister Paul Keating articulated the prerequisites of reconciliation with great clarity. He said:

… the starting point might be to recognise that the problem starts with us non-Aboriginal Australians.

It begins, I think, with that act of recognition.

Recognition that it was we who did the dispossessing.

We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life.

We brought the diseases. The alcohol.

We committed the murders.

We took the children from their mothers.

We practised discrimination and exclusion.

It was our ignorance and our prejudice.

And our failure to imagine these things being done to us.

We have now progressed beyond mere recognition of past wrongs. The Prime Minister on behalf of the Commonwealth government has now rightly apologised—and what a proud day for our nation in this place last Wednesday. Without an apology there would be no healing. Without healing there would be no reconciliation. The importance of the Prime Minister’s apology, from the very institution which enacted statutes that made the forced removal of children on racial grounds legal, cannot be emphasised enough.

The consequences of the previous parliament’s stubborn refusal to apologise are for all to see. Despite many efforts, we have been unable to tackle the many challenges that Indigenous Australians face, including those in health, education and housing. Prior to the Prime Minister’s apology, there had only ever been a weak foundation for moving forward together, a weak foundation for building a future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility, and a weak foundation for genuine attempts at so-called ‘practical reconciliation’.

Sorry is a simple word, yet it means so much in the pursuit of true reconciliation. By confronting the uncomfortable truth of the past and apologising unreservedly we can move the reconciliation process forward to practical, tangible outcomes. We could not separate an apology to the stolen generation from reconciliation. To think otherwise displays a complete lack of understanding of the appalling treatment handed out to many Indigenous people. That is why last Wednesday was such an important day for all Australians. That is why last Wednesday was a momentous occasion in this House. The truth is that we could not arrive at practical and tangible outcomes with fists clenched. Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians can only do it hand in hand. Coming to grips with our history honestly and apologetically allows us to join hands and to open up new opportunities for the future. This is the lesson learnt much, much too late. With the spirit and warmth that has been shown during the debate on this motion, I am confident that we can heal the wounds of the past and move forward together.

Before concluding, I wish to say something about the concerns that current generations of Australians ought not apologise for past actions and policies over which they had no control. Recognising and apologising for past mistreatment is not concomitant with attributing current generations of Australians with guilt for those actions. We did not ask current generations of Australians to assume responsibility. Nonetheless, just as we honour and express our pride in Anzacs, who fought for freedom and liberty, we can express shame in relation to other periods in our history. Let there be no doubt that there is a lot we as a nation can be proud of. However, there is a lot in our past to make us uncomfortable. It would be abominable to suggest that only those with a black armband approach to Australia’s history should feel a need to apologise to the stolen generation. I say to them: look at our nation’s history through the eyes of the stolen generations, through the eyes of mothers who had children ripped from their arms for no reason other than their colour, through the eyes of crying children whose last image of their mothers would be one of desperation and helplessness, on hands and knees pleading for the return of their children.

Picture ourselves as parents. Can we imagine going through those experiences? Can we imagine subjecting our children to such treatment without cause? To deny these facts about dispossession is to deny our history. To refuse to apologise, despite being armed with the facts, is hard-hearted. There is nothing unpatriotic about uncovering the truth, wearing our hearts on our sleeves and apologising. To retreat from this challenge is not a sign of patriotism; it is a sign of weakness.

As the Prime Minister has stated, we are the bearers of many blessings from our ancestors. Therefore, we must be the bearers of their burdens as well. We rightly expect the descendants of our diggers to continue honouring the Anzac legacy through annual marches and other events. As members of this House, we apologise on behalf of our predecessors who cannot. We commit ourselves to ensuring that the injustices of the past never happen again.

The previous parliament’s refusal to offer an apology has cast a dark shadow over the cause of reconciliation. However, just like the handshake across the House of Representatives dispatch box 17 years ago, we trust that the handshake between Prime Minister Rudd and the Leader of the Opposition will result in uncompromising approaches to address the many and serious issues engulfing our Indigenous Australians.

I am confident of the sincerity of the Leader of the Opposition in his resolve to work with the Prime Minister to achieve practical reconciliation. Now that the shadow has been lifted, all Australians can go forward together and achieve those goals laid down by the Prime Minister and supported by the Leader of the Opposition in this place last Wednesday. I know I speak for all Australians when we wish them well in those endeavours and I commend the motion to the House.

See this speech in context