"Sorry" Question.

I'm crying....I so fervently hope that this resumes the process so tragically paralysed when Howard was elected, that begins to heal the primal wound that haunts this country.

Here are some talking points from Get-Up.



Myths re "Sorry".


GETUP - PO Box A105 - Sydney South, NSW, 1235 Phone: 02 9264 4037 Fax: 02 9283 1371
[email protected] www.getup.org.au
The Stolen Generations Apology ; 7 Handy Mythbusters

There are many myths floating around about the apology so we've put together the followingmythbusters. When you call up talk back radio, write to your local newspaper or are simplydiscussing the apology around the dinner table with family and friends, you can now consider
yourself armed!


Use the following facts and arguments and help get everyone on board with the apology. The language used here is deliberately colloquial, which we hope will assist you to convince your
fellow Australians. Good luck

!
Myth 1 - I will not be made to feel guilt and shame for something I didn't do


Individual Australians are not responsible and should not feel guilty. "Sorry" does not have to be an expression of shame or guilt. It can be an expression of empathy, as in "I'm sorry to hear your friend died" or "I'm sorry you got hurt in that car accident". If people are still confused on this front, they might recall that several years ago, John Howard apologised on behalf on the nation to Vietnam Veterans for their poor treatment when they returned from the war.


In any case the apology will not be made on behalf of the Australian people but rather limited to the Australian Parliament.



Myth 2: The Stolen Generations are a thing of the past

Of all the Stolen Generations myths, this is one of the biggest. The facts are that the removal of Indigenous children continued well into the 1960s and early 1970s. These people are still alive today and the effect on individuals, families and communities lasts a lifetime (and
beyond).



Myth 3 - Saying sorry won't deliver better results in health, housing or education


Saying sorry is not of itself supposed to deliver health, housing and education. The fundamental flaw of this particular objection is that it implies Australia can't deliver practical outcomes while simultaneously delivering symbolic gestures. In other words, it suggests we
can't walk and chew gum at the same time.


The government must also pursue practical measures to address Indigenous disadvantage, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't begin the process with a symbolic act.


Myth 4 - It'll cost us a fortune


Contrary to popular opinion, a national apology will have no legal impact on the capacity of members of the Stolen Generations to seek compensation. The ability of members of the Stolen Generations to pursue legal claims has existed since they were taken and nothing
changes that. As a nation, an apology costs us nothing.




Myth 5 - The people who performed the removals thought they were doing the right thing


Good people do things that turn out to be wrong, but that doesn't mean they're excused from apologising. The majority of Indigenous children were removed from families not on the basis of the level of their care - but simply because of the colour of their skin. Many kids experienced physical, sexual and emotional abuse in their foster families and institutions after they were removed. For those people who believe that forced removal actually benefited the children, it's pretty difficult to find a member of the Stolen Generations who is happy about
being denied the love of their parents and extended family.



Myth 6 - Saying sorry won't change the past

Sadly, it won't. But it will have a massive impact on the future; Stolen Generations members have already started healing since the promise to apologise was announced.

An apology means an enormous amount to Indigenous people and the nation as a whole,and will cost us nothing.



Myth 7 - Saying sorry just leads people to think everythings been fixed


Whether you're for or against it, anyone who thinks that everything will be 'fixed'with the apology is kidding themselves. No-one is claiming that uttering the word 'sorry' is going to solve all the problems facing Indigenous Australians. Whatever your view on the apology,
everyone agrees that practical actions still need to be taken. The apology is an important first step.



Who are the stolen generations? The term 'Stolen Generations' refers to Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander Australians who were forcibly removed from their families andcommunities by policies of government, welfare and church authorities as children and placed into institutional care or with non-Indigenous foster families. The forced removal of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children began as early as the mid 1800s and continued until the 1970s.



(http://www.reconcile.org.au/getsmart/pages/sorry/sorry--faq.php#1)



The apology? A central recommendation of the 1997 'Bringing Them Home' report was the need for a national apology to those individuals and their families and communities affected by past policies of removal. Members of the Stolen Generations have indicated that recognition by the Government that the policies were wrong would help in addressing the
trauma and suffering that they have experienced. The need for a national apology is also regarded as an important component of the broader reconciliation process between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.


(http://www.antar.org.au/content/view/112/1/)
* Thanks to Chris Graham for his inspiration for this document.

This was sent me by a friend but I don't know its origin.

I saw it before I encountered the actual apology speech and for about 3hrs was so proud of the way Australia was maturing and gearing for a better future! I thought we were finally ready to address the problems in practical ways.

Then I read the actual speech and realised I was, briefly, living a dream.


But I'm allowed to dream, aren't I?


Second take of the text of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's speech to parliament:

We, the parliaments of the nation, are ultimately responsible, not those
who gave effect to our laws. And the problem lay with the laws themselves.
As has been said of settler societies elsewhere, we are the bearers of many
blessings from our ancestors; therefore we must also be the bearer of their
burdens as well.
Therefore, for our nation, the course of action is clear: that is, to deal
now with what has become one of the darkest chapters in Australia's history.
In doing so, we are doing more than contending with the facts, the evidence
and the often rancorous public debate.
In doing so, we are also wrestling with our own soul.
This is not, as some would argue, a black-armband view of history; it is
just the truth: the cold, confronting, uncomfortable truth - facing it, dealing
with it, moving on from it.
Until we fully confront that truth, there will always be a shadow hanging
over us and our future as a fully united and fully reconciled people.
It is time to reconcile. It is time to recognise the injustices of the past.
It is time to say sorry. It is time to move forward together.
To the stolen generations, I say the following: as Prime Minister of Australia,
I am sorry.
On behalf of the government of Australia, I am sorry.
On behalf of the parliament of Australia, I am sorry.
I offer you this apology without qualification.
We apologise for the hurt, the pain and suffering that we, the parliament,
have caused you by the laws that previous parliaments have enacted.
We apologise for the indignity, the degradation and the humiliation these
laws embodied.
We offer this apology to the mothers, the fathers, the brothers, the sisters,
the families and the communities whose lives were ripped apart by the actions
of successive governments under successive parliaments.
In making this apology, I would also like to speak personally to the members
of the stolen generations and their families: to those here today, so many of
you; to those listening across the nation - from Yuendumu, in the central west
of the Northern Territory, to Yabara, in North Queensland, and to Pitjantjatjara
in South Australia.
I know that, in offering this apology on behalf of the government and the
parliament, there is nothing I can say today that can take away the pain you
have suffered personally.
Whatever words I speak today, I cannot undo that.
Words alone are not that powerful; grief is a very personal thing.
I ask those non-indigenous Australians listening today who may not fully
understand why what we are doing is so important to imagine for a moment that
this had happened to you.
I say to honourable members here present: imagine if this had happened to
us. Imagine the crippling effect. Imagine how hard it would be to forgive.
My proposal is this: if the apology we extend today is accepted in the spirit
of reconciliation, in which it is offered, we can today resolve together that
there be a new beginning for Australia.
And it is to such a new beginning that I believe the nation is now calling
us.
Australians are a passionate lot. We are also a very practical lot.
For us, symbolism is important but, unless the great symbolism of reconciliation
is accompanied by an even greater substance, it is little more than a clanging
gong.
It is not sentiment that makes history; it is our actions that make history.
Today's apology, however inadequate, is aimed at righting past wrongs.
It is also aimed at building a bridge between indigenous and non-indigenous
Australians - a bridge based on a real respect rather than a thinly veiled contempt.
Our challenge for the future is to cross that bridge and, in so doing, to
embrace a new partnership between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians
- to embrace, as part of that partnership, expanded Link-up and other critical
services to help the stolen generations to trace their families if at all possible
and to provide dignity to their lives.
But the core of this partnership for the future is to close the gap between
indigenous and non-indigenous Australians on life expectancy, educational achievement
and employment opportunities.
This new partnership on closing the gap will set concrete targets for the
future: within a decade to halve the widening gap in literacy, numeracy and
employment outcomes and opportunities for indigenous Australians, within a decade
to halve the appalling gap in infant mortality rates between indigenous and
non-indigenous children and, within a generation, to close the equally appalling
17-year life gap between indigenous and non-indigenous in overall life expectancy.
The truth is: a business as usual approach towards indigenous Australians
is not working.
Most old approaches are not working.
We need a new beginning, a new beginning which contains real measures of
policy success or policy failure; a new beginning, a new partnership, on closing
the gap with sufficient flexibility not to insist on a one-size-fits-all approach
for each of the hundreds of remote and regional indigenous communities across
the country but instead allowing flexible, tailored, local approaches to achieve
commonly-agreed national objectives that lie at the core of our proposed new
partnership; a new beginning that draws intelligently on the experiences of
new policy settings across the nation.
However, unless we as a parliament set a destination for the nation, we have
no clear point to guide our policy, our programs or our purpose; we have no
centralised organising principle.
Let us resolve today to begin with the little children, a fitting place to
start on this day of apology for the stolen generations.
Let us resolve over the next five years to have every indigenous four-year-old
in a remote Aboriginal community enrolled in and attending a proper early childhood
education centre or opportunity and engaged in proper preliteracy and prenumeracy
programs.
Let us resolve to build new educational opportunities for these little ones,
year by year, step by step, following the completion of their crucial preschool
year.
Let us resolve to use this systematic approach to build future educational
opportunities for indigenous children to provide proper primary and preventive
health care for the same children, to begin the task of rolling back the obscenity
that we find today in infant mortality rates in remote indigenous communities
up to four times higher than in other communities.
None of this will be easy. Most of it will be hard, very hard. But none of
it is impossible, and all of it is achievable with clear goals, clear thinking,
and by placing an absolute premium on respect, cooperation and mutual responsibility
as the guiding principles of this new partnership on closing the gap.
The mood of the nation is for reconciliation now, between indigenous and
non-indigenous Australians. The mood of the nation on Indigenous policy and
politics is now very simple.
The nation is calling on us, the politicians, to move beyond our infantile
bickering, our point-scoring and our mindlessly partisan politics and to elevate
this one core area of national responsibility to a rare position beyond the
partisan divide.
Surely this is the unfulfilled spirit of the 1967 referendum. Surely, at
least from this day forward, we should give it a go.
Let me take this one step further and take what some may see as a piece of
political posturing and make a practical proposal to the opposition on this
day, the first full sitting day of the new parliament.
I said before the election that the nation needed a kind of war cabinet on
parts of Indigenous policy, because the challenges are too great and the consequences
are too great to allow it all to become a political football, as it has been
so often in the past.
I therefore propose a joint policy commission, to be led by the Leader of
the Opposition and me, with a mandate to develop and implement, to begin with,
an effective housing strategy for remote communities over the next five years.
It will be consistent with the government's policy framework, a new partnership
for closing the gap. If this commission operates well, I then propose that it
work on the further task of constitutional recognition of the first Australians,
consistent with the longstanding platform commitments of my party and the pre-election
position of the opposition.
This would probably be desirable in any event because, unless such a proposition
were absolutely bipartisan, it would fail at a referendum. As I have said before,
the time has come for new approaches to enduring problems.
Working constructively together on such defined projects would, I believe,
meet with the support of the nation. It is time for fresh ideas to fashion the
nation's future.
Mr Speaker, today the parliament has come together to right a great wrong.
We have come together to deal with the past so that we might fully embrace the
future. We have had sufficient audacity of faith to advance a pathway to that
future, with arms extended rather than with fists still clenched.
So let us seize the day. Let it not become a moment of mere sentimental reflection.
Let us take it with both hands and allow this day, this day of national reconciliation,
to become one of those rare moments in which we might just be able to transform
the way in which the nation thinks about itself, whereby the injustice administered
to the stolen generations in the name of these, our parliaments, causes all
of us to reappraise, at the deepest level of our beliefs, the real possibility
of reconciliation writ large: reconciliation across all indigenous Australia;
reconciliation across the entire history of the often bloody encounter between
those who emerged from the Dreamtime a thousand generations ago and those who,
like me, came across the seas only yesterday; reconciliation which opens up
whole new possibilities for the future.
It is for the nation to bring the first two centuries of our settled history
to a close, as we begin a new chapter. We embrace with pride, admiration and
awe these great and ancient cultures we are truly blessed to have among us cultures
that provide a unique, uninterrupted human thread linking our Australian continent
to the most ancient prehistory of our planet.
Growing from this new respect, we see our indigenous brothers and sisters
with fresh eyes, with new eyes, and we have our minds wide open as to how we
might tackle, together, the great practical challenges that Indigenous Australia
faces in the future.
Let us turn this page together: indigenous and non-indigenous Australians,
government and opposition, Commonwealth and state, and write this new chapter
in our nation's story together.
First Australians, First Fleeters, and those who first took the oath of allegiance
just a few weeks ago. Let's grasp this opportunity to craft a new future for
this great land: Australia. I commend the motion to the House.