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Legislative Council - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-02-27 Daily Xml
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STOLEN GENERATIONS

The Hon. B.V. FINNIGAN (15:27): I rise to add my strong personal support to the apology to the stolen generation which was delivered by the Prime Minister (Hon. Kevin Rudd) on 13 February this year, and seconded by the Hon. Brendan Nelson, in the federal parliament. As my honourable colleagues have said, the South Australian parliament was indeed the first in the nation to make an apology to the stolen generation following the Bringing Them Home report, and that was moved on 28 May 1997 by the Hon. Dean Brown, who was minister for Aboriginal affairs and former premier at the time, and seconded by the now Premier as the then leader of the opposition. For those members like myself who were not in the parliament at that time I think it is worth recalling that the motion stated:

That the South Australian parliament expresses its deep and sincere regret at the forced separation of some Aboriginal children from their families and homes which occurred prior to 1964, apologises to these Aboriginal people for these past actions and reaffirms its support for reconciliation between all Australians.

Perhaps more concise than the national apology in the federal parliament, but certainly as a member who was not here then, I would like to add my strong support to that motion and to the sentiments expressed by the Prime Minister and the federal parliament on 13 February 2008.

The matter of an apology to the stolen generation has been a matter of some controversy over a period, and particularly the former prime minister would not come at it, at least not to say sorry as such, but I think it is important that we do that. Certainly, on my own behalf, and I am sure on behalf of my honourable Labor colleagues, I am sorry for those injustices that occurred.

We hear a lot of people saying that as people today we do not bear responsibility for what has happened in the past. I do not think we take on a personal responsibility for something in order to be able to apologise for it and to be sorry that it happened in the name of the parliament and the government of the state. As the Prime Minister pointed out in his speech, it is sometimes said that we should not apologise because the policy was somehow well motivated or justified by its historical context. I do not think either of those considerations are valid reasons for not making the apology.

Without reflecting on the work done at the time by people who were involved in caring for indigenous children who had been removed, it was, nonetheless, a very specific policy erected by statute that targeted indigenous people solely on a racial basis. I do not believe anyone doubts that the state has the right—and needs to have the right—to remove children for their own protection; it happens every day in both non-indigenous and indigenous families. However, that is a quite different proposition to the case of the Stolen Generations, where people were targeted because of their race and children forcibly removed from their families. So, I certainly welcome the national apology and voice my own strong support for the sentiments expressed in it.

I would like to finish on a slightly indulgent note. I would like to offer my congratulations to my friends Shannon Sampson and Reggie Martin on their engagement to be married. I know first-hand that Shannon has had many inviting propositions from various people, and I am delighted that she has chosen to become Mrs Martin. So I congratulate Reggie the dog, and Shannon.

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