Boozer wrote:Surfin Turf wrote:sean-- wrote:Surfin Turf wrote:Chiming in a bit late but non the less ....
mad wrote:The irony is that one of Howards first actions when he first came to power was to dismantle ATSIC and 'assimilate' Aboriginal affairs.
Rudd's first actions is to say Sorry.
We really need this reconciliation as a nation so that we can move forward into our future.
Interesting :? ..... John Howard first said "sorry" in his address at the Reconciliation Conference in 1997 ..... however it's something that can't really be said enough ....
Howard said sorry to the stolen generation at the Reconciliation Conference did he ? I dont remember that. I do remember "deep and sincere regret " but not sorry.
Like I said the only time I ever heard Howard say sorry was after the interest rate rise in an attempt to save his political skin.
The prick got what he deserved anyway and the indignity of being only the second PM to lose his own seat.
He was out walking today. Nice to know he's looking after himself with his tax payer funded bodyguard.
yeah ... I'm pretty sure I remember hearing it back then .... but if memories fails his speach has only been played on almost every current affairs type TV and radio programme in the past week or so and he did say the word "sorry".... the difference seems to be that Howard appologised as PM and Rudd appologised on behalf of the parliment ....
Despite Howards speach being re-played so many times recently I suppose that like everything else, if Rudd doesn't say it , no one hears it ...
BTW Sean ... this ain't a debate about Howard and interest rates and he ain't the PM anymore ... and it really isn't a debate anyway's ...
I think we need to get the history right on this.
At the Reconciliation Conference in 1997 John Howard refused to offer an apology for the stolen generations.
The audience turned their backs on him which really pissed him off.
Check the introduction in this link:
http://www.law.monash.edu.au/castancent ... paper.html
On 8/7/99 the GST bill passed through parliament with the support of the Australian Democrats.
In parliament on 26/08/99 John Howard expresses "deep and sincere regret that indigenous Australians suffered injustices under the practices of past generations, and for the hurt and trauma that many indigenous people continue to feel as a consequence of those practices".
You do the "math" on that one.
If anyone would like to read through the Bringing Them Home Report it can be found on this link:
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/special/rs ... oc/stolen/
To answer mad's last question, I've met Lowitja O'Donohue and had the honour of sitting with her in the public gallery during parliament.
Oh F..F..F'ng...S .... 
I can look stuff up on the internet too ..... :?
Here's an extract from The Indigenous Law Bulletin and below that is an extract from Howard's speech (that he also gave on TV 2 years later ) .....
If you read what I originally said , Howard was critisised as he said it as PM and not on behalf of Parliment, as did Rudd .... so regardless of how it was not accepted he f'ing said it .... (my math's is fine
)
I still don't get why this is a debate
:? ....
Extract ....
The Australian Reconciliation Convention took place from 26 to 28 May 1997, on the traditional land of the Kulin peoples in Melbourne, and was organised by the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. The Convention was the most significant gathering of indigenous and other Australians since 1788 and was a profound experience for everyone attending. Over the past few months leading up to the Convention approximately 10,000 people took part in regional meetings and at least 1800 people attended the Convention itself. There was noticeably strong participation from people working in churches, indigenous education, the arts, industry and law, keen to work for solutions together with indigenous people. The diversity of people present revealed an extensive and vocal groundswell within the Australian community against the recent emergence of strident racism in public debate and in government circles.
goes on, then ....
As the Stolen Generations Report was tabled on the first day of the Convention, Commissioners Mick Dodson and Sir Ronald Wilson were able to launch the Report and speak to its contents on the next day. In the face of the Commonwealth Government's refusal to provide compensation, the launch speeches of the Commissioners were momentous and compelling. Sir Ronald made the point that, whatever reasons people had had for being involved in the removal of children, these reasons are not relevant to the finding of genocide - the attempt to destroy a people, a culture. Mick Dodson criticised the 'personal sorry' that the Prime Minister had made on the first day of the Convention saying that this was 'simply not enough' and that, as leader of this nation, he must speak for this nation.
Extract from the speach ....
We are a vibrant and resourceful people. We share a freedom born in the abundance of nature, the richness of the earth, the bounty of the sea. We are the world’s biggest island. We have the world’s longest coastline. We have more animal species than any other country. Two thirds of the world’s birds are native to Australia. We are one of the few countries on earth with our own sky. We are a fabric woven of many colours and it is this that gives us our strength.
However, these achievements have come at great cost. We have been here for 200 years but before that, there was a people living here. For 40,000 years they lived in a perfect balance with the land. There were many Aboriginal nations, just as there were many Indian nations in North America and across Canada, as there were many Maori tribes in New Zealand and Incan and Mayan peoples in South America. These indigenous Australians lived in areas as different from one another as Scotland is from Ethiopia. They lived in an area the size of Western Europe. They did not even have a common language. Yet they had their own laws, their own beliefs, their own ways of understanding.
We destroyed this world. We often did not mean to do it. Our forebears, fighting to establish themselves in what they saw as a harsh environment, were creating a national economy. But the Aboriginal world was decimated. A pattern of disease and dispossession was established. Alcohol was introduced. Social and racial differences were allowed to become fault-lines. Aboriginal families were broken up. Sadly, Aboriginal health and education are responsibilities we have still yet to address successfully.
I speak for all Australians in expressing a profound sorrow to the Aboriginal people. I am sorry. We are sorry. Let the world know and understand, that it is with this sorrow, that we as a nation will grow and seek a better, a fairer and a wiser future. Thank you.
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