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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-02-13 Daily Xml
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STOLEN GENERATIONS

Ms BREUER (Giles) (15:41): I stand here today as a very proud member of the ALP following the magnificent speech this morning by Kevin Rudd and the apology which we have awaited for so long: the Sorry. I am very proud that I was able to help Kevin Rudd get to victory today. I have to say that sometimes I am not so sure that I feel proud about being a member of the ALP, but today I certainly, certainly do. We certainly showed today what the ALP is about.

I was very proud today to see so many Aboriginal faces in Parliament House here. I was very pleased to host a group of people from Oak Valley community which is part of my electorate: Mr Windlass, Jeffrey Queama, Hilda Moodoo, Mima Smart, Annette Lawrie Dodd and Chris Dodd. I will mention later a bit more about Oak Valley.

I thought the words of the Prime Minister were wonderful. There was real meaning in those words, and with many others I did shed a tear during his speech. I remember the pain of a dear friend of mine in Quorn, Clara Coulthard Johnston. I remember standing in a creek bed at Pukatja, Ernabella, listening to her story and her showing me exactly where she was taken away from her mother's arms. I remember the pain of those mothers, and I cannot imagine the pain of having one of my children dragged from my arms and taken away.

It has been a very significant day and I think today we can move on. We have had some real healing today, I believe, and the hole in many hearts have been filled. It is a day of great reconciliation. It has taken us 220 years but I think today we have started that reconciliation process fully.

I was pleased to hear our Premier speak. He talked of respectful relationships. He mentioned that we cannot have practical outcomes without respectful partnerships with Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal people. We need to have an equal partnership with indigenous Australians and that has to be based on trust.

On a number of occasions the Premier mentioned Oak Valley and the Maralinga area. I have to say that I have grave concerns about what is happening in those communities. I do not believe that we are showing the respect and trust that is required in those communities. The Oak Valley community is a community in turmoil. There has been a series of administration decisions by the white administrators in that community which have been supported by the state government.

I believe we are taking away these people's rights. White administrators and white lawyers, I believe, have been one of the main problems in Aboriginal communities in South Australia. I have a saying: 'Missionaries, mercenaries or misfits' and that tends to be those who go out to those isolated communities. I have been in many of those communities and they seem to govern either with baseball bats or a bible in the top drawer, or a pack of tofu and lentils and a bong.

That is not the way to govern those communities. It is not the way to work with those communities. Today, I urge the government, I urge the Premier, I urge the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, and I urge the department to listen with respect to what the people are saying in the Oak Valley area. We do not need a situation such as that which resulted in the AP lands where we had much angst, much anger. We put people offside.

I believe we can resolve the situation in Oak Valley if we sit down and listen to these people. You do not sit down and listen to them for an hour—that is not the way you work with Aboriginal communities. You sit there for a couple of days. If they are saying 'Uwa, uwa' they are saying 'Yes, yes.' They are not saying, 'Yes, we agree with you'; they are saying, 'Yes, we understand what you're saying.'

There are language and cultural barriers, but we can do this. What I am asking—almost begging—today is to let us look at the situation that is happening in that community and let us try to right that situation. I urge the Premier, the minister and Ms Jos Mazel to listen to what these people are saying. I spent many hours with them today and listened to what they are saying. I have met with them on numerous occasions in the past few months. They are feeling wronged. They have major concerns about what is happening in their communities. In fact, one of the major problems is that nothing is happening in their communities. They have very few programs. They have asked and begged for programs, such as an art gallery for women and programs for children, and they are not happening. A lot of this is because of the angst they have had with the administration.

I ask today—I beg today—in the spirit of healing: let us sit down and look at this situation again for the sake of the children.

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