Linda Kirk (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of the national apology to the stolen generation delivered this morning by the Prime Minister in the House of Representatives and moved in this place by the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Today, as the Australian parliament acknowledges the past mistreatment of Indigenous Australians and in particular offers a formal apology to members of the stolen generation, their descendants and families, we formally recognise, reflect and acknowledge the experiences and repercussions that past policies and laws have had on these people—the first Australians. In particular, today we recognise the many thousands of Indigenous children who were forcibly removed from their families, communities and country during the mid-1800s right through to 1970. We say to them that we are deeply sorry.

These children, known to us now as members of the stolen generation, were taken from their families often solely on the basis of race and placed into institutional care or with non-Indigenous families and have suffered profound grief and loss. In the words of former Prime Minister Keating:

... we failed to see that what we were doing degraded all of us.

We now know, and today acknowledge, that this practice inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on many of our fellow Australians, and for this we, the Australian parliament, are sorry.

The apology given today is offered in recognition of and in response to the policies, laws and decisions of past parliaments and governments. Whilst it does not attribute guilt to the current generation of Australian people, in the words of former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating, in his Redfern speech in 1992:

We simply cannot sweep injustice aside. Even if our own conscience allowed us to ...

The word ‘sorry’, as I understand it, holds a special meaning in Indigenous culture in that it is used to describe rituals regarding death—known as ‘sorry business’. In this sense it is used to express empathy, sympathy, compassion and understanding as opposed to responsibility, guilt or liability. It is my hope that today’s apology acts as a powerful symbol to restore respect to Indigenous Australians, not only on a personal level but also in sending a message to the rest of the country and to the world that Indigenous Australians and Indigenous culture are valued in this country.

Removing children from their families solely on the basis of race and attempting to assimilate them with children of mixed ancestry into the non-Indigenous community has impacted the lives of many Indigenous Australians. Not only did children have to contend with the great loss of being removed from their parents; they also lost their connection with their extended family, their traditional land,  their culture and their language. In many cases, as we have now learned, Indigenous children were placed in vulnerable situations, at risk of physical, emotional and sexual abuse. We now understand that the experience of many of the children who were forcibly removed from their families has had long-term disabling consequences.

I wish to bring to the attention of the Senate the example of one South Australian woman—someone from my home state: the late Doris Kartinyeri. She was a woman who was forcibly removed from her parents when she was just four weeks old. Her mother passed away and the United Aborigines Mission came and took her from her father and her siblings in Port McLeay to be raised at the Colebrook Home in Eden Hills, a suburb of Adelaide.

Colebrook housed a number of Aboriginal children, including the former chair of ATSIC, Lowitja O’Donoghue, who is known to many. The children were given a strict religious upbringing in the home, which was run by the United Aborigines Mission. In a book that Doris published entitled Kick the Tin, she wrote about her experiences in coming to terms with what it meant to be a stolen child. She said:

The saddest thing is that I really didn’t have a mum or family to guide me.

In a poem written by her expressing her feelings, she wrote:

Walking through a blue dream,

Reality calls but it’s not what it seems.

Living while the subconscious screams.

Living to find out what it all means.

Doris was a brave ambassador and campaigner for members of the stolen generation through her openness and candour about her experiences. I am sorry that she is not here with us today to hear this national apology, which would have meant so much to her. To those who grew up at Colebrook in South Australia and to the many thousands of Indigenous Australians who had experiences similar to Doris’s across this country, we, the Australian parliament, say sorry.

The Bringing them home report, which reported on the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families, was tabled in this parliament in 1997. The committee, of course, was chaired by the late Sir Ronald Wilson. The report brought to the forefront of the national conscience the impact which past governments’ policies and laws had on Indigenous Australians. In particular, the report brought to our attention that nationally between one in three and one in 10 Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families during the period that I referred to earlier.

It has been 11 years since the Bringing them home report was tabled, and during this time all state and territory governments have apologised to the stolen generation. But, as we know, unfortunately this parliament has never given a formal apology. The Howard government offered an expression of deep and sincere regret in a motion of reconciliation in 1999, but there has never been a formal apology until today.

I want to make brief mention of Labor’s track record in this area, beginning with my state of South Australia. When Labor came to office in South Australia in 1965, the then minister for Aboriginal affairs, Mr Dunstan, introduced three pieces of legislation which granted greater autonomy to Indigenous people. Most significant of these was the introduction of the Land Trust Bill, which was the first step by any Australian state government to grant Aboriginal title to land. In 1972, when Labor was elected to government at the federal level, then Prime Minister Whitlam set about altering Australia’s treatment of Indigenous people through a raft of positive and progressive policy initiatives. The most notable of these was when the Prime Minister granted 2,000 square metres of tribal land back to the Gurindji people. I am proud today to be a member of the Rudd Labor government, which has initiated and negotiated today’s apology with Indigenous people.

I fondly refer to the inspirational speech of former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating at the launch of Australia’s celebration of the 1993 International Year of the World’s Indigenous People. This speech is commonly known as ‘the Redfern speech’. He made the point that the:

... fundamental test of our social goals and our national will: our ability to say to ourselves and the rest of the world that Australia is a first rate social democracy ...

rests in how we treat and care for our Indigenous people.

I hope that this apology represents a significant step along the road to reconciliation with Indigenous Australians. It is offered with sincerity, sympathy, compassion, hope and now a greater sense of understanding. Whilst we understand that reconciliation is a journey that remains incomplete, we are keen for the opportunity to build a new relationship with Indigenous Australians and to work together, in particular, to close the 17-year life expectancy gap between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians by maintaining long-term action and support in the areas of health, education, housing and employment. I look forward to closing this dark chapter in Australian history and to working together with Indigenous people for a brighter future.