Australia Apologizes To Aborigines

In Emotional Vote Watched Nationwide, Parliament Apologizes For Past "Indignity And Degradation"

(AP)  Aborigines organized breakfast barbecues in the Outback, schools held assemblies and giant TV screens went up in state capitals as Australians watched a live broadcast of their government Wednesday apologizing for policies that degraded its indigenous people.

In a historic parliamentary vote that supporters said would open a new chapter in race relations, lawmakers unanimously adopted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's motion on behalf of all Australians.

"We apologize for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians," Rudd said in Parliament, reading from the motion.

The apology is directed at tens of thousands of Aborigines who were forcibly taken from their families as children under now abandoned assimilation policies.

"For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry," the motion said. "And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry."

Aborigines remain the country's poorest and most disadvantaged group, and Rudd has made improving their lives one of his government's top priorities.

"This is a historic day," said Tom Calma, who gave the Stolen Generations formal response. "Today our leaders across the political spectrum have chosen dignity, hope and respect as the guiding principles for the relationship with our nation's first people."

In Parliament's public galleries and at gatherings large and small around the country, victims of the assimilation policies and their supporters listened intently as Rudd spoke. Many wept quietly.

Traditional cleansing ceremonies were held in Sydney's predominantly Aboriginal suburb of Redfern before a crowd watched events on a big screen. Parents clutched children on their knees. Many waved Australian and Aboriginal flags.

"Sorry heals the heart and it goes deep," said Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor, an Aborigine among the crowd. "This really means a big thing to us — a weight that can be lifted so that we can start our healing."

The apology ended years of divisive debate and a decade of refusals by the previous conservative government that lost November's elections.

In the Outback town of Broome on the far northwest coast, dozens gathered before dawn to watch the speeches in Canberra on television via a scratchy feed.

"I'm glad it's come this far," local Aborigine Justin Howard told Australian Broadcasting Corp. "But it's not going to stop here, there is still going to be that hurt."

Rudd received a standing ovation from lawmakers and from scores of Aborigines and other dignitaries who were invited to Parliament to witness the event.

"It's great to get behind what the government's trying to do; bring black and white Australians together," said William Murray, 17, one of more than 1,000 who gathered at two giants screens outside Parliament.

Aboriginal classmate Cyril Johnson, 17, also welcomed the apology.

"It's really good everyone realizes now they did a bad job in the old days and the apology is really good," Johnson said.

The apology places Australia among a handful of nations that have offered official apologies to oppressed minorities, including Canada's 1998 apology to its native peoples, South Africa's 1992 expression of regret for apartheid and the U.S. Congress' 1988 law apologizing to Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II.

Aborigines lived mostly as hunter-gatherers for tens of thousands of years before British colonial settlers landed at what is now Sydney in 1788.

Today, there are about 450,000 Aborigines in Australia's population of 21 million. They are the country's poorest group, with the highest rates of jailing, unemployment and illiteracy. Their life expectancy is 17 years shorter than other Australians.

The debate about an apology was spurred by a government inquiry into policies that from 1910 until the 1970s resulted in 100,000 mostly mixed-blood Aboriginal children being taken from their parents under state and federal laws based on a premise that Aborigines were dying out.

Most were deeply traumatized by the loss of their families and culture, the inquiry concluded, naming them the "Stolen Generations." Its 1997 report recommended a formal apology and reparations for the victims.

Rudd ruled out compensation — a stance that helped secure support for the apology among the many Australians who believe they should not be held responsible for past policies, no matter how flawed.

He pledges instead to lift the living standards of all Aborigines, and on Tuesday outlined bold targets for cutting infant mortality, illiteracy and early death rates among indigenous people within a decade.

Aboriginal leaders generally welcomed the apology, though some said it was empty rhetoric without addressing the issue of compensation.

Noel Pearson, a respected Aborigine leader from Queensland state, wrote in The Australian newspaper on Tuesday that offering an apology without compensation meant: "Blackfellas will get the words, the whitefellas keep the money."

Marcia Langton, an Aborigine academic at the University of Melbourne, also said the question of compensation must be addressed, but celebrated the apology as a huge step forward.

Michael Mansell, spokesman for the rights group the National Aboriginal Alliance, said the word "sorry" was one that "Stolen Generation members will be very relieved is finally being used."

Mansell, who has urged the government to establish an $880 million compensation fund, said he still hoped Rudd would be open to the idea.

Tony Abbott, the indigenous affairs spokesman for the main opposition coalition, said his bloc had reversed its previous objection to the apology in part because Rudd promised there would be no compensation.

Among those viewing the parliamentary action on television were more than 60 preschoolers and parents at Australia Street Infant School in Sydney. Karen Donnelly said she wanted her 3-year-old daughter Zara Dennis to watch the apology.

"I want her to be able to reflect later on what happened, and to be a part of history," she said. "It will also be helpful in terms of explaining to her what an apology is, and how we acknowledge our actions when we say sorry."

[ianlou]

What happened to that recently proposed legislation to make alcohol consuption illegal on Aborigine reservations?

Let see...Parliament Apologizes For Past Indignity And Degradation. We recognise the Aborigine as human being with equal rights except when it come to alcohol.

What a joke.

[b-easy63]

Cry me a river. Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Posted by robertkjjj at 01:25 AM : Feb 13, 2008
+ report abuse
Bunch of whining, bone-nosed cavemen. Let ''''em go back to their dirt caves, and don''''t let the govt give them a cent, and see how happy they are without the white man to take care of their primitive spear-throwing bu*tts.

Posted by jackie0428 at 01:24 AM : Feb 13, 2008


this is the new America--no matter how many hundreds of thousands we destroy or what we do--we now, never admit wrong or say we are sorry--it is just tough tittiessss--but let a few men blow up and kill a few thousand Americans and we pitch a fit, cry a rive and expect the world to help us make somebody, anybody pay for it.

It sounds sooo tough to say we owe nothing for the ****** our ancestors do--but of course we do--because we benefit not only from what they did, but what we continue to do--to ensure we keep the goodies. Face it--it takes a bigger person to acknowledge a wrong than one to deny it and defiantly be an ***. Bullies never learn this--but honor and integrity dictates that we not only atone for past mistakes (even if they were not explicitly made by us) but in the end, we can''t make other groups accept our apology. We should be big enough to admit the wrongs of the past and apologize...and the desdendants of our victims, should be big enough to take the apology and move on. No favors, no money--just learn to respect the rights of each other and stop the racist bs.

[b-easy63]

"The apology places Australia among a handful of nations that have offered official apologies to oppressed minorities, including Canada''s 1998 apology to its native peoples, South Africa''s 1992 expression of regret for apartheid and the U.S. Congress'' 1988 law apologizing to Japanese-Americans for their internment during World War II. "

Boy, it''s a good thing we had that apology to the Japanese Americans to fall back on--otherwise that not so pretty fact that we have yet to officially apologize for over 300 years of slavery and oppression to descendants of slaves or for the almost genocidal acts against Native Americans --might come up and make us look worse than the Australian government. LMAO

[robertkjjj]

Cry me a river. Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

[taylpatr]

I wonder when our government will apologize to our native people for doing the very same thing here to Navajo and Hopi children. They built the Intermountain Indian school in Brigham city,Utah.It''s only about 500 miles from their homes, but it is safe(?)in the heart of Mormon country. They also "took in" indian kids for the school year. They were taken from their homes, families and culture and indoctrinated into the Mormon religion, which considered them decendants of their ancient enemy.Their were many instances of child sexual abuse and other horrible things inflicted on these helpless kids, but as it was in those times, it was either overlooked or "GOOD OLD BOY"ED" away by the powers that be. The ones who won''t forget, though, are the hundreds if not thousands of kids who made it through and were scarred for life. And people wonder why Indians drink......

[brianbwb-2009]

"The people who authored these horrible policies and who need to apologize are long dead. Today''s Australians can''t be blamed; thus, the apology is pointless."
Posted by gargar7

There is an important point you neglect to consider, many affluent Australians are still living on the riches stolen from the native population, and discriminatory conditions built yesterday are still being taken advantage of today.

And you are wrong to assume that the racism was a part of the distant past, it is still quite alive today, as are many of its'' adherents.

[gargar7]

The people who authored these horrible policies and who need to apologize are long dead. Today''s Australians can''t be blamed; thus, the apology is pointless.