Grievance Debate

STOLEN GENERATIONS

Dr McFETRIDGE (Morphett) (15:36): I rise on what is a momentous day in the history of Australia. I am a proud South Australian Liberal and I want to recognise the fact that on 28 May 1997 it was the Hon. Dean Brown, then minister for Aboriginal affairs, who referred in this house to the past injustices to Aboriginal people and so moved recognition of that fact and an apology to the Aboriginal people for those past injustices. During his speech on that momentous day back in 1997, the Hon. Dean Brown referred to a report that had just been released. That report was the 'History of the Laws, Policies and Practices in South Australia which led to the removal of many Aboriginal children: A Contribution to Reconciliation'.

At the back of that report there is a very good summation of the situation we found ourselves in before 1997 in South Australia and also before 2008 in Australia. That summary states:

When societies or cultures collide it is often the children who suffer most. For Aboriginal children the British colonisation of South Australia was no exception. During the first 120 or so years of European settlement successive governments either permitted or actively pursued policies of removing Aboriginal children from their parents and communities. The implementation of these policies represents one of the most shameful episodes in the treatment of Aboriginal people by white Australians.

Although frequently motivated by good intentions, the removal of Aboriginal children was to embitter relations between the two peoples and cause enormous pain and suffering to the children and their parents. The damage caused to individuals and families persists today.

The past cannot be changed but some of the wounds can be healed. The process of reconciliation must start with a candid recognition of what took place.

The document recently put out by Reconciliation Australia, of which I am proud to be on the South Australian board, has a number of questions that are often asked about saying sorry, and there are eight questions. I recommend people go to the website where the questions and answers will be given. The main question is: why should we apologise when many Aboriginal people are actually better off today? Why should we say sorry? Why is the word 'sorry' important as part of the apology? The document states:

The word 'sorry' holds special meaning in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander [communities]. In many Aboriginal communities, 'sorry' is an adapted English word used to describe the rituals surrounding death (Sorry Business). 'Sorry', in these contexts, is also often used to express empathy or sympathy rather than responsibility.

During the 2007 election campaign, then opposition leader Kevin Rudd also recognised the significance of the word 'sorry'.

I was very pleased to be in Elder Park this morning to hear Kevin Rudd speak and to talk to the people present in Elder Park and recognise the fact that they were going to move on. They are going to accept the apology and they are going to move on. One of the South Australians I saw on the telecast this morning, a proud South Australian Aboriginal woman, Lowitja O'Donoghue—and I know she has given some full and frank advice to this government. Speaking on the SA Link-up program, which helps members of the stolen generation find their families, she said:

There are few Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people whose lives have not been touched by misguided and barbaric policies which saw children taken away from their families and communities, ostensibly 'for their own good'.

I stand here as the shadow minister for Aboriginal affairs and say sorry to the Aboriginal people of South Australia for past injustices, for the disgraceful policies that, no matter how you look at them, were very poorly thought out and by today's standards are an absolute travesty of every human right possible.

I just hope that, today, having apologised on a national basis and having, nearly 11 years ago, apologised on a state basis, we can move forward as a bipartisan parliament here in South Australia and help all the indigenous members of the South Australian community move forward as well, because they certainly do need our help and our support. This parliament must recognise that, and today is a day when we should be recognising that and moving forward.