Dana Wortley (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to support completely the apology to Australia’s Indigenous people. In doing so I acknowledge and honour the traditional owners of all the lands across our vast continent of Australia. I had the opportunity to address this issue in an earlier speech yesterday so on this occasion I will be brief. Our children are precious. I cannot find the words that could adequately describe the feelings of those mothers and fathers who had their children taken, often whisked away, and placed in locations unknown to them, or the feelings of the children whose mothers and fathers were lost to them, some for years, some for decades, some forever. Out of sight does not equate to out of mind and the Aboriginal people I have met and spoken with throughout my life, those of the stolen generations and those whose family members—mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, and partners—were of the stolen generations, have a depth of sadness in their eyes. It becomes immediately apparent that the years have not dimmed their memory nor lessened the hurt.

As the Prime Minister said yesterday, there comes a time in the history of nations when their peoples must become fully reconciled to their past if they are to go forward with confidence to embrace their future. We have taken too long to apologise for the treatment of our Indigenous people, those of the stolen generations and others who have suffered and continue to suffer inequality and disadvantage. Families of the stolen generations were torn apart, subjected to indignity, humiliation and unimaginable sadness, loss and grief, and that is why we say sorry. As the Bringing them home report commissioned by the Keating Labor government and handed down in 1997 cites:

For victims of gross human rights violations, establishing the truth about the past is a critically important measure of reparation ...

The report also says:

For many victims and their families, an accurate and truthful description of past policies and practices and of their consequences is the first requirement of justice and the first step towards healing wounds ... Also essential is an acknowledgment of responsibility ...

The truth has now been acknowledged in the first week of the 42nd Parliament of Australia. Past actions and present consequences have been recognised. An apology has been delivered. The Prime Minister has said sorry on behalf of the government and the parliament for the hurt caused to members of the stolen generations and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This simple and symbolic act brought unbridled tears from many who thought they would not bear witness to it in their lifetime.

Today as a nation we are now ready to advance reconciliation with our Indigenous peoples. Now we find ourselves at a place from which to start building better relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, a better future. Together we can begin the journey to establish mutual respect, from which we can work towards achieving other meaningful goals. Now we must move forward, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, in learning from the mistakes of the past and ensuring that they are never repeated.

As I have already said, there is much to be done across the Australian community to bring about reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Through consultation and collaboration with Indigenous people and communities the government will seek to build a relationship based on respect. We must translate our words of apology into actions via meaningful and effective policy, legislation and law. The government will continue developing and implementing a range of initiatives to help close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in the area of health outcomes and educational achievements. As a nation we need to recognise the true and full value of Indigenous culture. As a government we pledge to address this and other examples of oversight and neglect of our Indigenous Australians.

Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I stand today to support the motion that has been passed overwhelmingly through this parliament, in the Senate and in the House of Representatives. Yesterday was a historic day and I support saying sorry and apologising for past injustices. It provides an opportunity for a new beginning. The preamble to the motion stated:

That today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.We reflect on their past mistreatment.We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations—this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

It is true that the passing of this motion has been received with great relief by many, and I hope it provides healing and reconciliation. I hope it provides an opportunity for better outcomes and future possibilities so that Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians can achieve their full potential. We can anticipate, as I have indicated, a new beginning.

Why do I support the motion? Why is it wrong? What was wrong? In particular, I refer to one of the paragraphs of the motion which said:

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

The fact is that both levels of government, state and federal, had laws and policies in place which were based on race; they were discriminatory. It is my view that the vast majority of the very well-intentioned church and mission organisations were exactly that: they had good intentions; they were well-motivated; they were there to provide support, care and compassion to those Indigenous children. But the fact is that the laws of this land were wrong. They were based on race and it is appropriate to say sorry and apologise for that past injustice. I want to make it clear that it is my view that in no way do I wish to attribute guilt to this generation for the injustices of the past, but it is appropriate for the government and this parliament to say sorry and apologise for that past injustice.

The motion read:

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

An apology is doubly powerful if it is both given and received with sincerity. Forgiveness is far more meaningful if it is actually accepted with a heart of thankfulness. Reconciliation requires two to tango so that healing can take place; it is a two-way street. I hope with all of my heart that it can be accepted with sincerity by our Indigenous communities, the leaders of our Indigenous communities and those affected in particular.

In Tasmania, on 13 August 1997, the state parliament passed a motion which was of the following accord. It was moved by the Premier at the time, Tony Rundle. It said:

That this Parliament, on behalf of all Tasmanians, expresses its deep and sincere regrets at the hurt and distress caused by past policies under which Aboriginal children were removed from their families and homes, apologises to the Aboriginal people for those past actions and reaffirms its support for reconciliation between all Australians ...

I commend former Premier Rundle and the Tasmanian parliament for that motion. I support it wholeheartedly. Former Premier Rundle quoted some concerns that were expressed by former Tasmanian Aboriginal elder Mrs Ida West. Premier Rundle quoted two examples of a boy who was removed from Cape Barren Island in 1959 at the age of 12 who remembers:

I had no knowledge I was going to be taken, I was not even able to see my grandmother and I had just the clothes I had on my back, such as they were. I never saw mum again.

Mr Rundle went on to say:

... his two brothers and two sisters were not able to be all together again until 1995. Families were kept apart physically and emotionally. A Tasmanian woman removed from her family as a baby recalled that:

I was not allowed to go to the same school where my natural siblings were. I was told not to contact my natural family because they were not any good.

The motion was wholeheartedly supported by the Tasmanian parliament. I want to acknowledge the support at the time of Premier Jim Bacon, and in particular I want to acknowledge the leadership shown by former Premier Ray Groom, who officially stated in December 1993 that Tasmania would work to give full and proper recognition of Tasmania’s Aboriginal people and their heritage and culture. Of course, former Premier Bacon was responsible for transferring Oyster Bay and the Wybalena property to the Aboriginal community in Tasmania.

I would like to ask: what about this new beginning, this new joint commission to fight disadvantage in Indigenous communities, particularly with respect to housing? That is a welcome development. But Paul Kelly referred to it very well in the Australian today, where he said:

... the apology imposes obligations on today’s Australians.

Its spirit is dishonoured if the current generation cannot devise new and better policies to lift the conditions of indigenous peoples.

That is a very wise statement indeed.

In today’s Examiner the editorial is worth noting. It says:

Yet, as much as yesterday’s speech by Mr Rudd was a huge landmark for Australia, we need to move beyond that symbolic landmark.

The apology may help heal wounds, but it will not end the very real problems that remain for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

So there is clearly a lot more to do.

I would like to add a further apology, and that is an apology to the current generation of Indigenous children. We have breached a duty of care as federal, state and local governments—and the community all around Australia—to provide a safe and secure environment in which Indigenous children can live, grow, be nurtured and prosper. There was a recent case in Queensland with Judge Bradley, where nine boys and men repeatedly raped a 10-year-old girl in the community of Aurukun. It was so horrific to hear of that case but, sadly, it is not alone. The Little children are sacred report that was released last year contains damning evidence that the current generation of Indigenous children in this country deserve an apology because we are incapable at this time of providing a safe and secure environment for them to be nurtured, to grow and to reach their potential as human beings.

That is why I am a very strong supporter of, and thank, Mal Brough for his leadership and that is why I am a strong supporter of the Howard government’s Northern Territory intervention legislation. It saddens me greatly that the Rudd Labor government is moving down the track of dismantling that intervention measure and, in particular, bringing back the permit system, providing no-go zones—little enclaves—where children will not be safe. I wonder about this and I ask this question: by going down that track, now knowing that there is evidence on the table that children are being abused, particularly sexually abused, is our government in breach of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child? I do not know but I certainly think it is worth considering whether that is the case.

It was disappointing that the Prime Minister was not able to disclose the wording of the motion in advance of the debate. I think it was a churlish act but nevertheless I thank Dr Brendan Nelson for his leadership in supporting it overwhelmingly and the leadership that he has shown the coalition. I support the motion.

Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Prime Minister for Social Inclusion) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great joy and pleasure to contribute to the debate on the apology to the stolen generations because yesterday, as we all know—we all heard—Australia turned a new page in its history. Australians, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, embraced a new era of forgiveness and inclusion. The Prime Minister’s articulation of such a sensitive apology to the stolen generation for their past suffering and injustices has been overwhelmingly endorsed across the nation, and in fact across the world. It has been made on behalf of the government and on behalf of the Australian federal parliament and comes after significant consultation with Indigenous people. Denial of the past is no longer an option for our nation. Truths can no longer be swept under the carpet. We, as the government of the day, can no longer take the easy option.

Yesterday’s events remind us of just how important ‘sorry’ is in the reconciliation process. It is a shame that the apology has taken so long—that former governments ignored the evidence and denied the opportunity for the forgiveness, healing and hope that has been so clearly articulated by the people who yesterday were here in the chamber and in Parliament House. But it has happened now and it brings me great happiness. It is such a great honour that I am overwhelmed that I was here and was able to vote for it happening. Several other people in the chamber have expressed that view too—they were overwhelmed yesterday by the significance of the motion that we passed here in the Senate and in the House of Representatives.

The Bringing them home report reduced me to tears. It exposed the enduring impact and the horrific consequences of successive governments’ policies on the stolen generations, their families and their descendants. From the contributions of other colleagues, I know it had the same effect on them. We have heard so many stories from people in our own constituencies who were affected. The one that really caught my eye was a confidential submission to the Bringing them home inquiry from a New South Wales woman who was taken to the Cootamundra Girls Home, not far from where I live. I know a little of the home’s history. That woman had such profound evidence for us. In her submission she said:

Most of us girls were thinking white in the head but were feeling black inside. We weren’t black or white. We were a very lonely, lost and sad displaced group of people.

We were taught to think and act like a white person, but we didn’t know how to think and act like an Aboriginal. We didn’t know anything about our culture. We were completely brainwashed to think only like a white person.

When they went to mix in white society, they found they were not accepted [because] they were Aboriginal. When they went and mixed with Aborigines, some found they couldn’t identify with them either, because they had too much white ways in them.

So that they were neither black nor white. They were simply a lost generation of children. I know I was one of them.

Those stories of the enduring impacts and the sense of isolation and dispossession make up much of the evidence that we have heard and they have been reiterated over the last few days by the people who are most intimately connected to the stolen generations or are members of the stolen generations. They really bring the significance of this vote and this national apology home to us all.

The history of removing Aboriginal children from their homes is one of great complexity. We have had some arguments about that in the chamber as well. I noted Cape York Indigenous leader Noel Pearson’s comments in Monday’s Australian newspaper. I think he captured the complexity of the debate. He wrote:

People were stolen, people were rescued; people were brought in chains, people were brought in by their parents; mixed-blood children were in danger from their tribal step-fathers, while others were loved and treated as their own; people were in danger from whites, and people were protected by whites.

The motivations and actions of those whites involved in this history—government and missions—ranged from cruel to caring, malign to loving, well-intentioned to evil.

And so, to my mind, we have to look at the forced removal of Indigenous children in terms of its lasting overall cultural impact. I know many of my colleagues here in the chamber know that I spent some of my happiest years working in the Northern Territory and saw firsthand, in school and in special education there, just how damaging government policy can be when it fails to recognise Indigenous culture. It was an extraordinary time living there. I have the fondest memories of times, for example, when my children would play with the Aboriginal children who visited the hospital and the outpatients clinic there and of the times when we all pitched in when there was an outbreak of chickenpox and the children’s ward was overflowing with young mothers and their babies. We all just pitched in and helped out with those little ones, and that was a great time. It really brought home to me the abject poverty in which people live but also the cultural richness of their communities and the extent to which those children are loved and cherished.

So, when we in this Rudd Labor government talk about a new beginning, we talk about social inclusion, which is something that is very close to my heart. We know that one of the biggest and first commitments that this government is going to make is to transform the living conditions and the opportunities of Indigenous people in contemporary Australia. We need to do this because, as the healing process continues, we have to start to address the disadvantage that is engulfing Indigenous Australians. It is disadvantage that spans generations.

The Indigenous people, who have been marginalised since European settlement, continue to endure living standards, life expectancy, employment rates and school completion rates that are so far below those of non-Indigenous Australians. As we enter our 17th year of economic growth, with the lowest unemployment rates in 30 years, we still have an Indigenous population that are suffering entrenched disadvantage and that extraordinary 17-year life expectancy gap—an unacceptable life expectancy gap. We have to close that, and I am so proud that Kevin Rudd as the Prime Minister has said, ‘We are going to do it.’ He has set it down as the task for all of us, in government and in opposition, to do. We are going to say that these realities can no longer be swept under the carpet. We have a commitment that there is going to be the substantial spending needed to create a future that is full of hope, safety and equality of opportunity, health and wellbeing for Indigenous Australians.

The idea is that we have a bipartisan approach to Indigenous issues through the establishment of a war cabinet. How heartening it is that Dr Nelson has graciously agreed to co-chair that. This is just new ground for Australia. It is new ground for Australia in terms of public policy, and it is certainly new ground for Australia in terms of politics. It is a wonderful commitment—it is a fantastic commitment—that we are going to set ourselves the challenge, and we are going to meet the challenge, of halving the gap in mortality rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children under the age of five. What a profoundly important thing we have to start with. During that time we are going to do the same thing: we are going to halve that gap in reading, writing and numeracy through a package that focuses on early childhood development and early intervention.

We are going to revisit the recommendations of the Bringing them home report, particularly the need to provide counselling and health services and, of course, to continue to support tracing lost families and lost children and reuniting them—and how important and significant an effort that is. We have given a commitment to ensure that those services can be provided to the stolen generations. We are going to work to have every Indigenous four-year-old in every remote Aboriginal community enrolled in preschool or an early childhood education centre. Then we are going to set some targets that we are going to be held to as a government: to build future educational opportunities for Indigenous children; to provide primary and preventative health care; to begin reducing the obscene infant mortality rates in remote Aboriginal communities. That is what it is all about: a social inclusion agenda. (Time expired)

Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The apology motion carried in both houses of the federal parliament yesterday closes a chapter on the past. But it has to be acknowledged that in some sections of our Indigenous population there are still many problems to be overcome before all of our Indigenous people are able to enjoy the benefits that living in contemporary Australia should bring them.

I believe that we as a nation need to acknowledge the reality of Indigenous poverty and disadvantage in our society. As members of the Commonwealth parliament, we need to pledge to do all we can to ensure that all of these contemporary problems are corrected. It really is a disgrace that in modern Australia there is a segment of our population with much lower life expectancy and higher infant mortality and morbidity rates, often living in substandard housing and needing better health services and improved access not only to basic education to ensure that literacy standards are met but also, more importantly, to job skill education so that our Indigenous people are equipped with the skills to enable them to find worthwhile jobs in our community.

However, in this atmosphere of apology I believe that we should acknowledge that much progress has been made in ensuring a better quality of life for Indigenous Australians. Our record as a nation is far from being all bad, as some would have it. According to the report Overcoming Indigenous disadvantage: key indicators 2007, published by the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision, encouraging progress has been achieved in improving the lives of our Indigenous people.

Debate interrupted.