quote:

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Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology motion has been tabled in Parliament:

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.

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.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/events/apology/text.htm

Could he mean Parliament? It's true that until the 60s Aboriginals didn't vote; but then the current Parliament, the one that would be apologising, includes Aboriginals and people representing them.

If it's Australia the country, then Australia the country doesn't include Aboriginals, and of course the whole point of the exercise is to deny that.

Same applies to the Labour Party, more so if anything.

It's hard to avoid thinking "we" has to mean white Australians. It's even harder to decide whether there's anything wrong about a Prime Minister speaking for white Australians.

quote:

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Originally posted by Boarsbreath:
It's interesting to ponder the "we". Who is "we"?

Could he mean Parliament? It's true that until the 60s Aboriginals didn't vote; but then the current Parliament, the one that would be apologising, includes Aboriginals and people representing them.

If it's Australia the country, then Australia the country doesn't include Aboriginals, and of course the whole point of the exercise is to deny that.

Same applies to the Labour Party, more so if anything.

It's hard to avoid thinking "we" has to mean white Australians. It's even harder to decide whether there's anything wrong about a Prime Minister speaking for white Australians.

(Honestly: I'm not baiting. I think quibbling over historical accuracies here is beside the point, and the surprisingly emotional reactions of Australian colleagues here shows that.)

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quote:

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While there is much optimism, Indigenous Australia is not assuming that the end of the Howard era is automatically the beginning of a golden era for Aboriginal people. Rudd in opposition supported, without any amendment, Howard's intervention in the Northern Territory including the aspects that repealed the Racial Discrimination Act, the abolition of the permit system and the compulsory quarantining of all welfare payments. [...]

The intervention employed a mechanism that linked school attendance with the quarantining of welfare payments. There is no evidence that the use of welfare as a stick improves school attendance. In fact, all of the research points to the fact that using welfare payments in this way can add an additional stress factor into an already dysfunctional situation. [...]

Rudd's Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, has already continued the roll-out of this odious and racist policy of quarantining welfare payments, making it even harder for Rudd to dismiss the NT intervention - and its underlying ideologies - as the failed policies of Howard. And that is a sign of the challenge ahead with this new government. [...]

I am heartened to hear that he is finally going to take a step forward and make the long overdue apology to the Stolen Generations. I am, however, extremely disappointed that his Government has ruled out compensation.

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I wonder if Aboriginal children died in schools or in care in Australia to the extent that they did here. He uses the word "loss" but it isn't clear if that's what he means, and I have found no mention of it.

[ 14 February 2008: Message edited by: Erik Redburn ]