Trish Crossin (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am extremely privileged to be part of a federal parliament that took a giant leap of faith today that will go down in the annals of Australian history. When we reflect on the significance of today—when we not only look back on it tomorrow but think about it next week and in the years to come—it will go down as a momentous day in the history of this nation.

When I first stood in the Senate I offered my personal apologies to the people of the stolen generation. Having lived and worked with people in the Northern Territory for more than 25 years, I have heard many stories. I have got to know many of these people at a personal level and at the level of deep friendship. I know that for decades they have waited for some acknowledgement—not only by the parliament but by this country—that what occurred in the past was an incredible mistake and was so terribly wrong.

If you think of yourself and what defines you as a person, it is actually your family. It is who you are, where you have come from and who you relate to. It is what you learn from each other, how you defend and support each other, and, at times, how you have some massive blues with each other as well. I cannot imagine, as a mother of four, what it would possibly have been like back at the turn of the last century to see your child being removed from your arms or from your camp or from your family existence. I cannot imagine the pain that a mother, or even her relatives, would have felt in seeing that occur. We have heard the stories; we have watched the movies. I think everybody can internalise the kind of impression that would have on you as a parent and, of course, as a child. We know now the significance of the 1997 HREOC report which was called Bringing them home. The term ‘stolen generation’, of course, was first used by Professor Peter Read when he was at the Australian National University. It is a term that has stuck because it so aptly describes what these people were and what they were to themselves.

In taking pride in our country we always look at the achievements, whether they are scientific, sporting or in arts and crafts. We relish those achievements and we are happy to celebrate them. We do not do such a good job at recognising the faults and perhaps the flaws in our history and confronting them full on. The fact that children were taken from their parents on the basis of their race is indeed a national shame. We do have to confront that past act and make that admission. We have done it today and I think we have done it in a very appropriate, capable way. We have done it through consultation with Indigenous people and through the people who have been concerned. We have done it by talking to members of the National Sorry Day Committee and members of the Stolen Generations Alliance.

In the Northern Territory I had the privilege of meeting for many hours representatives from the Northern Territory Stolen Generation Aboriginal Corporation—members of the stolen generation who come from the Retta Dixon home, Croker Island, Garden Point, Groote Eylandt, the Kahlin compound, the fostered and adopted group, and members from Katherine. The significance of those names, of course, is that they were the names of the homes that children were taken to in the Northern Territory: the Retta Dixon home, the Kahlin compound, Croker Island and Garden Point. There are not too many of those children left, I have to say—probably around 186 in the Northern Territory. In fact, there are only three still alive who were taken to the Kahlin compound. Aunty Hilda Muir is one of those. She could not be here in Canberra today, but I know she would have been listening in the hall of parliament house in the Northern Territory.

What people were after was a final recognition from this parliament that the acts and the actions back then were wrong. They were very clear to me in our discussions that they wanted this day to be about the beginning of a new era. They wanted to be very clear that this was not about a closure or an end, not about signalling further action or requests for assistance, but about a brand new day, about bringing peoples together, about confronting the past and acknowledging how severely wrong that was, and about everybody taking a step forward. They wanted to ensure that it was made on behalf of the Australian parliament and not the Australian people. They would lay no fault at the feet of any one particular person—not then and not now. They wanted to ensure that this parliament acknowledged that the acts of this parliament were wrong, and we have done that. Of course, that has particular reference to the Northern Territory. The Aboriginals Ordinance of 1911 applied specifically to families in the Northern Territory. They were directly affected by this. Unlike any other non-Commonwealth legislation in various states, the Commonwealth Aboriginals Ordinance had a direct and specific effect upon the families in the Northern Territory. They wanted to ensure that the apology was to pertain to the people affected by the laws, policies and practices of forcible removal. In fact, they were hoping that recommendation 5a of the Bringing them home report would be specified and enacted today and that is what has happened. Recommendation 5a states:

That all Australian parliaments—

and now all Australian parliaments have—

1. officially acknowledge the responsibility of their predecessors for the laws, policies and practices of forcible removal;

…            …            …

3. make appropriate reparation as detailed in following recommendations.

That has occurred. We have had the start today with Prime Minister Rudd setting up a commission to look at housing and preschool education. It is a new beginning and that is exactly what members of the stolen generation want. They were also concerned that this apology must acknowledge their Indigenous mothers. I notice that today in his speech the Prime Minister did exactly that. They wanted acknowledgement that their mothers who were left behind when children were taken suffered the most unkind and cruel impact you could possibly imagine. They also want us to acknowledge that, when they were removed from their families, they incurred an incredible loss of language, a loss of culture and a loss of land. A lot of these people would have been the next senior people in their communities and camps and the next line of traditional owners. All of that has been denied them.

These children were discouraged from having family contact. They were taught to reject Aboriginality. Their institutional conditions were harsh. Their education was often basic. Many never received wages. Physical punishment was often common. They were at risk of sexual abuse and the authorities failed to care for and protect the children. We have had documented in the Bringing them home report the lifelong effects that some of these people have endured—the loss of a primary carer in infancy, the fact that forcibly removed people were no better off despite the fact that that is what the policies intended, the fact that their parenting skills have been undermined, that their next generation is at risk, that there is a loss of heritage and that there have been massive effects on those left behind. These people deserved this apology today and I am glad to have been part of it.

One of the strongest memories I have of my time in this Senate is walking over the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 2000. I want to place on record my thanks to non-Indigenous people who have walked the journey with the stolen generation people over the years, people out in the broader community who have worked hard to achieve the apology we have had from the federal parliament today, and to those members of the stolen generation who were wandering around at morning tea this morning with ‘Thanks’ on their T-shirts. This has been a very significant day for them and for our nation. I sincerely hope we can all now walk forward in a new era of reconciliation.