Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

Today I would like to use the first part of my address to express my deepest regret and sorrow on the passing of two public figures, and very important people to me, in the Northern Territory. They were people I knew well and both were very good friends. The first person I want to refer to is Frances McKechnie. I knew Frances for a long time—certainly for the last 25 years—and she was a very dear friend to me. It was extremely saddening to hear of the passing. Her funeral was held yesterday at the Uniting Church in Alice Springs.

She devoted her life to social work in the Territory communities and rural Australia more broadly. She had a stronger affinity with the pastoral sector and the Indigenous people of outback Australia. Frances was originally from Victoria’s Western Districts—Port Fairy. After completing year 10 at Camperdown High School she decided to train to become a deaconess in the Presbyterian Church at Rolland House in Carlton in Melbourne. Her brother Jack recalls asking Frances what made her decide to be a deaconess. At a Presbyterian fellowship camp at Warrnambool, Frances and others were sleeping in a church hall on palliasses. During the night she awoke and her eye was drawn to an unusually bright light in a stained-glass window. On the window were the words ‘Follow me’. Without flinching, Frances took the words to heart and decided to serve God as a deaconess.

In her training she specialised in teaching and social work. She was posted firstly to Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, where she stayed for nine years, before moving to Warrnambool for 11 years. In 1968 she took up a position in the Melbourne office of the Australian Inland Mission, an organisation she gave over 40 years of her working life to. She worked primarily in the field of children’s and women’s services. In the course of her work she travelled extensively around outback Australia, from the Pilbara, the Kimberley, to Cape York, western Queensland and northern South Australia.

Her love of the Territory brought her back to Alice Springs in an active retirement which included seven years as chaplain in St Philip’s College. Frances was the college’s first chaplain and the author of the college prayer. So great was the school’s respect for her that McKechnie House, a boarding house for rural students, was named after her. She worked tirelessly all her public life and in public life. She served on a number of committees in Alice Springs which reflected her interest in and concern for social justice and the preservation of the history of Central Australia. These included the National Trust, the Old Timers, and the Older Australians Advisory Committee, which was established by Carmen Lawrence as Minister for Human Services and Health in the Keating government in 1994-96.

Frances was also President of the Alice Springs Branch of the Australian Labor Party and a life member of the Northern Territory Labor Party. She was a regular and very much welcomed attendee at ALP and government functions right up until the last few months before her passing. She was a great friend to me in her role in the party and a great contributor to discussions about the issues of the day. She was a very important person in the life of the Alice Springs Labor Party community.

She was chairperson of the Adelaide House Management Committee, which has responsibility for keeping historical records of the first hospital in Alice Springs, built by the Reverend John Flynn. Frances was deeply committed to the Central Australian community and lived out her retirement years in a place very dear to her heart. ‘I love the place and the climate,’ she said. ‘Where do you get a retirement village like this?’ Frances said of the Old Timers nursing home in Alice Springs, where she lived in a quiet self-contained unit, a unit in which we passed some time sharing stories, having cups of coffee and a little natter. It is with great sadness that we must say farewell to this great and gracious lady.

The second person that I wish to pay tribute to this morning is Dr Marika. Dr Marika was a Yolgnu woman of the Rirratjingu clan, Yirrkala, in north-eastern Arnhem Land. She was an extraordinary woman who devoted her life to education and to bridging the gap between the English-speaking mainstream and her own society. I knew Dr Marika well. For more than 30 years I visited north-eastern Arnhem Land and watched her become an important and respected community leader. She helped to found the land management group Dhimurru, which applied the practices which Yolgnu people have employed since time immemorial. Her life was not an easy one. She overcame cancer in her early 20s and was troubled by heart problems. Despite this adversity, she was never happier than when she was retelling the traditional stories of her community or going through the details of the clan systems of north-eastern Arnhem Land. She could compare their insights with the ideas current in the Western world. She had truly a two-way vision.

The number of people who have paid tribute to Dr Marika is testament to not only how much of a public figure she was but also how well liked she was. I was particularly moved by the words of the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Ms Macklin, who commented that Dr Marika was the embodiment of reconciliation. Her genuine commitment to her people, particularly through improving the education and reconciliation, was recognised through her 2006 title of Territorian of the Year and last year’s title of NT Australian of the Year. It is a comfort to know that she spent her final days with her family in the stringy-bark forests of her country. Dr Marika was a truly brilliant Australian whose talent, dedication and passion will be sorely missed and forever remembered.

On a happier note, today marks the 80th birthday of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which has consistently provided a vital lifeline to Territorians and others in remote areas. On this day in 1928, the very first flying doctor flight took off from Cloncurry to answer a call for help from the remote town of Julia Creek. On board the single-engine de Havilland, the Victory, was the very first flying doctor, Dr Kenyon St Vincent Welch, and the first flying doctor pilot, Captain Arthur Affleck. The Victory had the most basic instruments and no radio. On that day, the Reverend John Flynn’s extraordinary vision—I referred to Reverend Flynn in terms of Adelaide House and the work that Frances McKechnie was doing in Alice Springs—to alleviate the isolation and suffering of people living the harsh outback life became a reality and a quintessential part of the fabric of Australia.

In 2008, we celebrate not only Reverend John Flynn’s dream but the incredible technological advances in medicine, aviation and communications which have allowed the Flying Doctor Service to bring the bush and coastal cities closer. We also celebrate the spirit of Australians whose courage continues to inspire the RFDS to provide excellence in aeromedical and primary healthcare across Australia. We must acknowledge the professionalism and the dedication of those who worked for the Royal Flying Doctor Service, because it is without doubt that they have delivered life-saving treatment to many Australians over the period since the twenties. Without that sort of creative volunteerism, which stimulated the first royal flying doctors’ efforts, there is no question in my mind that our community would be far worse off. So, to those people who are currently engaged and employed by the RFDS, I say ‘thank you’ for your continuing service.

Recently this Australian parliament did something which I did not think it would ever do. The 13th of February was a momentous and memorable occasion and a long time in the making. This was the day that the apology was given by the Prime Minister to the stolen generations. Much work remains to be done, of course, after the apology, but there are clear undertakings that the government has made—and Tuesday’s budget demonstrates our commitment to those undertakings—to improve health, education and employment outcomes for Indigenous Australians wherever they might live. The Indigenous health summit held in this place in March was a timely reminder of this. Over 40 Indigenous groups and national bodies converged to pledge, along with the government, to campaign for Indigenous health equality. Again, Tuesday’s budget demonstrates our commitment to that pledge.

The apology was an extremely important milestone in our nation’s history and a very important gesture which carried great meaning for all of those affected by the policies of past governments. As we know, we cannot erase the record of the past; however, we can acknowledge our past failures, express sincere regret and work towards establishing a better future.

It may come as some surprise that something has gone unreported, at least to date, in the Australian media—that is, the apology currently before the United States congress to its indigenous people. On 26 February this year, not two weeks after the apology in this place, the US Senate passed the Indian Health Care Improvement Act Amendments of 2007. The ostensible purpose of this bill is to improve access to health care for Native Americans. It would boost programs of the federally funded Indian Health Service, prompt new construction and modernisation of health clinics on reservations and attempt to recruit more Indians into health professions. Importantly, attached to this bill is an apology amendment moved by a Republican senator from Kansas, Sam Brownback. The stated purpose of the amendment is:

To acknowledge a long history of official depredations and ill-conceived policies by the United States Government regarding Indian tribes and offer an apology to all Native Peoples on behalf of the United States.

I believe it is worth observing some of the content of this proposed US apology, especially in light of the recent apology here in Australia. It is quite comprehensive—in fact, very detailed.

It begins by recognising the ancestors of the Native Americans as inhabitants of the land of the present-day United States ‘since time immemorial and for thousands of years before the arrival of peoples of European descent’. It speaks of their ‘powerful spiritual connection’ to the land and their ‘deep and abiding belief in the creator’ as reflected through their customs and legends. It goes on to detail actions the federal government took against American Indians, including violations of treaties with Indian tribes; the forced removal of Indians from their traditional homelands; attempts to assimilate children through their forcible removal; armed confrontations and massacres such as those at Sand Creek and Wounded Knee; condemnation of Indian traditions, beliefs and customs; and unlawful acquisition of tribal land and theft of tribal resources and assets. It recognises that there have been years of official depredations, ill-conceived policies and the breaking of covenants by the federal government regarding Indian tribes. The amendment goes on to apologise:

... on behalf of the people of the United States to all Native Peoples for the many instances of violence, maltreatment, and neglect inflicted on Native Peoples by citizens of the United States.

It expresses:

… regret for the ramifications of former wrongs and its commitment to build on the positive relationships of the past and present to move toward a brighter future where all the people of this land live reconciled as brothers and sisters, and harmoniously steward and protect this land together; …

It also:

… urges the President to acknowledge the wrongs of the United States against Indian tribes in the history of the United States in order to bring healing to this land …

This is clearly a statement with content and an apology which would be welcome amongst American indigenous peoples. The bill is currently at a committee stage in the lower house and may not come up for debate for a number of weeks or months.

I think that, although this particular apology, unlike the one in Australia, is words on paper—little more than a footnote to an appropriations bill—as far as apologies go, it does not meet the standards we have here in Australia. Nevertheless, it is an extremely important starting point. It has always been a thing of interest to me that the US government has acknowledged that its policies of the past have had a detrimental effect on its indigenous people. As yet there has not been an official apology made by the government to the Native American people. This bill, which will appear before the congress in the near future, represents an important opportunity to say ‘sorry’, and I hope that that course is followed. As in the Australian instance, it does not sideline the importance of improving substantive outcomes. This is always the primary focus. But an apology, as we have discovered in this country, is an important step. Its role is not to wipe the slate clean, to forget the past and move on; it is to recognise the misdeeds and misgivings of the past and to act as a pledge to work together towards a reconciled future.

What many people have failed to understand over the past decade has been the emotional harm that has been caused in this country by the refusal to say ‘sorry’. On the face of it, it is a simple act, described in denigrating terms by some as merely a symbolic action. For many of the stolen generations in this country, it is much more than this. We saw clear evidence of that on the day of the apology in this place. The refusal to apologise previously had amounted to a denial of the life experience of many of the stolen generations. They have not been able to tell their story in order to heal.

In less than two weeks, on 26 May, Australia will again pause and reflect for National Sorry Day. As much as it is a day for looking back, it is also a day for looking forward to the future and working towards a reconciled Australia. I have to say, though, that I think the national apology here in Australia has given great encouragement to the peoples of the world. I know from the observations which have been made by colleagues here who have travelled to international fora—and, indeed, by the Prime Minister; it is an issue which has been raised with him by heads of state—that it has been a major issue for discussion with them. It is a matter of pride that I can stand here as a member of the Australian Labor Party and a member of this government to say that I was part of that process and to say that here we all sat in this place as part of that apology. I hope that we will see the same thing in the congress of the United States some time in the near future.

But I have to say that, in my own communities, the impact of the apology cannot be underestimated. That is the thing. For many of us it is an abstract notion, but the reality is that, for those who were the subjects of the apology, it is not an abstract notion. In the meetings I have had with people over many years about this issue, there was no question about the very real pain and hurt that people have suffered as a result of previous government policies. To be part of a process where this parliament apologises to those people in a bipartisan way—and I commend the Leader of the Opposition and the opposition parties—has indeed been a great privilege.

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