Rudd's predecessor, John Howard, refused to take this step arguing that what was past was past and, instead, simply offered a statement of 'regret'. The Howard government was also concerned that any formal apology might open the government up to all sorts of legal claims.
Rudd has taken a different view - and it's one for which he should be soundly applauded. It's not everything the Aborigines wanted and in fact Rudd's government is resisting calls for huge amounts of financial compensation for past misdeeds.
But it's a start towards assimilating the Aboriginal nation into the nation state, making them feel like citizens of Australia at last. He has promised to enrol every Aboriginal child into school and an accelerated numeracy and literacy programme. He has promised to do more in the area of health care to reduce the obscenely high infant mortality rate among Aboriginal children.
These are great promises - but Kevin Rudd has to deliver or start the process at least or the warm feelings towards him after his speech yesterday will be obliterated in cynicism and contempt.
Rudd has recognised quite openly what he describes as the 'contempt' between the indigenous and non-indigenous peoples of Australia and has pledged to try and eliminate that. It is a tough ask and he has a lot of work ahead of him. But I admire his attitudes and where he is coming from, and he deserves the support of the whole nation.
I have visited Australia and the situation for many Aboriginals is dreadful. Many were brought into the towns to help with building projects and , when the work was over, they were simply left there out of their tribal homelands, with no roots and no real direction. They get access to alcohol and drink it to excess to drown out the depression and the misery - and then they get violent. I remember visiting Cairns in Queensland and being told, along with the other tourists in our hotel, to be careful going into town past the Aboriginal settlements on the outskirts. If you see men hitting their women with sticks, we were told, don't get involved. It's a regular occurrence.
The Aboriginal leaders know what happens when their men are left with no sense of belonging and plenty of booze and have worked to try and help with the problem. The situation for urban Aboriginals is a blot on Australia. 25% of Aboriginal men in the cities have severe mental health problems caused by the stress of trying to cope in an alien environment. Aboriginal males have a very high suicide rate. Much of this has been due to a complete lack of a social structure in which Aboriginals who moved to the towns for work could live, allied to the disgraceful forced assimilation policy to which I referred earlier. Of course, as is common among all deprived peoples, there is a high correlation between mental illness, substance abuse and criminal behaviour.
Kevin Rudd has a massive task to redress all these situations and it would be a real pie in the sky optimist to believe that he will sort them all - and maybe the problems of todays Aboriginal adults are too far gone in many cases.
But he is right to start with the children. To try and give them an education and a health system which is the right of every white Australian. He has not promised the earth nor indeed committed Australia to everything asked for by Aboriginal leaders. But he has made a brave start in recognising grievous past wrongs and he deserves to have the good will of every Australian in his efforts to build on that apology and the consequent promises of a better future for the Aboriginal people
1 comment:
"Screw 'em! I'm not living my life for their benefit."
I found it interesting to read that quote directly before the Australian Aboriginal apology post.
May I suggest that instead of visiting Australia and finding Aboriginals who've been brought into town for building projects (???), you spend some time living in a country town here. You might learn that there are 2 types of Aboriginals - there are the ones who are respected, who either live within their cultural and historical system or willingly assimilate into the 'working 9 to 5, home owner, law abiding' group; or the others who move into town for the government handouts including free housing, payments to send their kids to school, grocery vouchers, interest-free loans to buy cars/furniture/etc, and who still squander it. Would you like to see photos of what a typical Aboriginal family does to their taxpayer-funded home? Do you know when they get cold in their government-provided home, instead of turning on a heater, they rip up the floorboards and set a fire inside the house? And then sit outside, watch it burn, and then demand (and are given) another home?
Or perhaps you'd like to meet my friend Shirley, who is my age, late 30's, full-blood Aboriginal, who was one of the 'stolen generation', adopted out to a whie family against her parents will. In her 20's, she tracked down her biological parents and siblings, and was horrified at the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse they inflicted on each other.
It is politically incorrect to say that Aboriginals routinely molest children... but it's far too common. Shirley did a lot of volunteer work in Alice Springs to try and help Aboriginals to escape the vicious circle of abuse, petrol-sniffing, violence, and early death.
She was beaten, threatened with death, and called a f*%king coconut (brown on the outside but white on the inside), when she tried to prevent a 3 year old from being raped by a 51 year old elder.
If you want to agree with Rudd's apology, go ahead... the majority of the Australian public (Daily Telegraph poll) think that an apology will do nothing but bring compensation claims. The first claims were filed the very same day that the apology was made.
"Screw 'em! I' m not living my life for their benefit." And I'm objecting to paying tax to fund massive compensation payouts to men who abuse young children, or to women who trade their little girls for alcohol, or worse still... willingly allow their partners to rape their children. Repeatedly. Think about that. Young girls and boys are growing up in an environment where mum lets her boyfriend rape them. They are the ones that should apologise. Not me.
I will apologise for something I did, something I am responsible for. But the 'stolen generation' is NOT my fault. I wasn't even born then. But my taxes will go to the compensation claims made by people who were never 'stolen' but see an opportunity to make a quick buck, and those who have been irrevocably scarred by the physical, mental and sexual abuse that the tribes allow, will get none of it. (There are no birth records for Aboriginals, so anyone can claim Aboriginal parentage and no-one can prove or disprove it.)
Do you know what a star picket is? A steel fencing pole... this is hard to explain... with 3 jutting edges down its length. Think of a star with only 3 points, that's what a star picket looks like when you look from one end to the other.
That's their weapon of choice for a) beating their wives or children, or b) molesting their children when they're too drunk to 'get it up'.
I will never apologise to any community which condones that.
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