Next week when the Commonwealth Parliament sits for the first time since the election, Kevin Rudd and Brendan Nelson have an opportunity to apologise, in our name, for those wrongs suffered by Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, in our name. We have been talking about this for over a decade. Now is the time to act.
Let's consider the history of this apology. At the 1997 Reconciliation Convention in Melbourne, the Bringing Them Home Report was launched, highlighting the plight of those indigenous children removed without lawful authority and without consideration of their best interests.
Prime Minister John Howard made a personal apology. He said: 'Personally, I feel deep sorrow for those of my fellow Australians who suffered injustices under the practices of past generations towards indigenous people. Equally, I am sorry for the hurt and trauma many here today may continue to feel, as a consequence of these practices.'
Having been rapporteur at the Convention, I then wrote to Prime Minister Howard suggesting a formula of words for a collective apology by the Parliament. His Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, John Herron responded: 'The Prime Minister acknowledges and thanks you for your support for his personal apology to indigenous people ... However, the government does not support an official national apology. Such an apology could imply that present generations are in some way responsible and accountable for the actions of earlier generations; actions that were sanctioned by the laws of the time and that were believed to be in the best interests of the children concerned.'
It's true some of the injustices suffered under the practices of past generations were 'sanctioned by law and were believed to be in the best interests of the children concerned'. Regardless of what our politicians said, those injustices could not attract compensation in the courts. There were other injustices which were not sanctioned by law and were not necessarily believed to be in the best interests of the children. Some who suffered these injustices are still alive, and they may be entitled to compensation, regardless of what our politicians might say or not say. Their compensation claims were neither helped nor hindered by John Howard's 1997 personal apology. And they would be neither helped nor hindered by a Commonwealth parliamentary apology in 2008.
Most, if not all such injustices, occurred prior to 1967 when the Commonwealth did not even have the constitutional power to