Speech by NSWALC Chairperson Bev Manton on the 10^th Anniversary of Sorry Day

Sydney
26th May 2008

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I first want to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land upon which we meet today.

I also want to acknowledge the presence of the Aboriginal people who are with us today who are part of what we know as the stolen generations.

Today is a very important occasion in the history of our nation.

Today is not just about our past; it is also about our future.

For many Australians, today means confronting and accepting what has gone before.

Eleven years ago, on 27 May 1997, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission released its report Bringing them home.

The report was dedicated to the generations of Aboriginal children taken from their families and communities who are still searching for their home and to the memory of the children who will never return.

The inquiry visited every state and territory and most regions of Australia.

It took evidence in public and private from Aboriginal people, government and church representatives, former mission staff, foster and adoptive parents, doctors and health professionals, academics, police and others.

The report found that somewhere between one in three and one in 10 Aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their families between 1910 and 1970.

We do not know how many were separated prior to 1910.

Indeed, we do not know with certainty how many children were removed from their families, but we do know that Aboriginal children were placed in institutions and church missions, were adopted or fostered and were at risk of physical and sexual abuse.

Many, of course, did not receive wages for their labour.

The practice was on such a large scale and over such a long period, continuing so close to the present day, that its effect cannot be dismissed as only applying to olden times.

There are some, I know, who still believe that the removal of Aboriginal children was good.

Some removals, it is argued, were part of a broad welfare system which decided what was in the best interests of the children.

But the truth is that the stolen generations were removed from their families because of their culture, their colour and their race, because they were considered inferior and because non- Aboriginal Australians thought that they could do better.

I cannot imagine what it would feel like, as a mother, to have your children taken from you.

I cannot imagine the loss of living out one's life and going to your grave never knowing who you were.

I cannot imagine a child never knowing the love of their parents.

But thousands of Aboriginal people grew up without the love of their parents or the love of their brothers and sisters.

Many never knew who they were or where they came from.

This policiy did break down families, clans and tribes and played a key role in dislocating communities, depriving many of them of the bonds that bind communities and depriving them of family and cultural legacies.

After the release of the report, many of the stolen generations made a request for an apology.

They said that this would have meaning by showing that Australians recognized their hurt and pain and accepted that what had been done to them was wrong.

It was a heartfelt request because, they said, this would help the healing process.

Since that time, apologies have been given in state parliaments in New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania and in the parliaments of the ACT and the Northern Territory.

Words of apology have been said in churches, in public meetings and in private conversations.

They have been discussed and debated Australia wide.

But until now no apology had been offered by an Australian government.

And that was wrong.

The stolen generations were deeply damaged by the decisions of the previous parliament and of governments.

However, today there has been a change in the political landscape of this nation brought about by the new government.

Last year, Mr Rudd made the commitment that, if the Labor Party were to form government, he would take the important and historical step of saying sorry to the stolen generation for the pain and suffering they endured as a result of being forcibly separated from their families.

On the 13^th February this year, he delivered on this commitment.

Our Prime Minister said sorry on behalf of the government, on behalf of the Australian parliament and on behalf of the Australian people.

The significance of this important moment in our nation's history should not be downplayed or lost.

For many thousands of Aboriginal Australians, both those with us and passed, this day had been a long time coming.

Indeed, for the past 11 years the possibility of an apology has all but eluded us.

However, the election of the Rudd Labor government last year not only put the issue back on the agenda but, placed the apology to the stolen generation at the very top of his agenda.

The significance of this event will no doubt be resounding for years to come, but for now its present and fresh importance should not be lost.

It should be enjoyed and celebrated.

To me the apology represented the most basic and true meaning of reconciliation: a sincere and heartfelt acknowledgement of what has come before and a genuine desire to move forward together towards the future.

The apology was an acknowledgement of a past wrong.

It also represented a clear statement of our desire as a nation to move forward as one people.

However, the Rudd government should know that the apology is only the first step of many steps that need to be taken to mend the past injustices suffered by the Aboriginal people.

Much more needs to be done to bridge the gap that has been allowed to develop over a number of years between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians.

As the Prime Minister said, in this country we are about a fair go for all, and up until now this sentiment has failed to be applied when it comes to Aboriginal Australians.

I was extremely proud to be in the Australian parliament when they took the important step of acknowledging the wrongs suffered by members of the stolen generation.

Australia changed that week.

It was really a very emotional and exciting week for this country.

Driving there I could not help but be quite overwhelmed and very emotional as I came around the front of parliament house.

People were lining up in dignified silence but with quiet yearning and excitement about the fact that at last this parliament seemed to be in touch with the feeling of the nation.

As I witnessed that, I thought this is actually a nation-changing event.

It was extraordinary.

The celebrations that happened in parliament house is something that will not be forgotten for a very long time-the laughter and the tears; the emotion; and the people, Aboriginal Australians and non- Aboriginal Australians, coming together to celebrate an important day in the history of our country.

Saying sorry has been a long time coming, and I know many people here today and many, many more people have dreamed of that day, have worked long and hard to make it happen through their own compassion and activism, leading towards that moment.

I would like to acknowledge the efforts of everybody who, from the bottom of their hearts, worked towards the positive outcome of a genuine apology emanating from the Prime Minister of this country.

It was a historic moment for the healing of the nation

I think we can start to really move forward.

I have great hope and optimism for that.

I applaud the inspired stewardship of Kevin Rudd in making the apology the priority for this first sitting of the 42nd Parliament.

I also pay my respects to the generations of Aboriginal children taken from their families and communities, those who are still searching for home, and to the memory of the children who will never return.

I extend my thanks and admiration to the members of the Stolen Generation for their courage and strength, their resilience and their dignity.

The past is always with us.

It shapes the present and the future.

People are embracing the opportunity to do the right thing, to do what we teach our children to do, to say sorry for doing something hurtful and, more importantly, to mean it.

Non- Aboriginal Australians should be proud that they are strong enough as a people to admit the wrong and to say sorry.

I know that t many Aboriginal Australians believed they would never live to see this day.

It has been far too long coming. For that, I am sorry too.

And I acknowledge those who did not live to hear the apology.

To their descendents I say sorry for the pain and hurt suffered over generations and the loss of identity, family and country that can never be restored.

It is now up to us as a nation to bring together Aboriginal and non- Aboriginal Australians-government and opposition, Commonwealth and state-to write a new chapter in our nation's story.

Only then will we truly have a stake in our collective future.

I and my fellow Councillors of NSWALC are fully committed to doing everything that we can to make our future a brighter one for all Australians.

Thank you.