Days of Hope

So much has been written and spoken already about yesterday’s formal apology by the Australian Parliament to the stolen generations it has been impossible to absorb and reflect on it all in the way I would like. This is a gift that will keep on giving, its meaning and repercussions long unfolding. We must hope, and ensure, these will be overwhelmingly positive.

That it was a tremendously emotional and important day, both happy and painful, for so many was plain to see from the expressions on faces, particularly those of the 100 indigenous representatives and members of the Stolen Generations invited as special guests to the opening of the new Parliament and to witness the long wished-for apology. And who will soon forget the sight of all those rapt, attentive and finally joyful faces of the people gathered in front of screens at countless sites around the country: in schools, public places from Redfern to Bourke, and at my workplace in Sydney, where I watched the speeches and ceremony in the company of dozens of Aboriginal colleagues.

That it was a political victory and I would say, in the circumstances, a very big political victory, is undeniable. And political victories are important. When the Bringing Them Home report included in its recommendations, an apology, who would have thought that it would have taken more than 10 years for such a simple act to occur? That it has now finally taken place is because there was clear support among a majority of Australians for an apology to take place and because it was patently evident that while it would cost the new Labor government almost nothing to make it, it was unthinkable not to do so when it would mean so much to Aboriginal Australians and be an indispensable part of their healing.

Of course, the much more difficult and complex work now begins. Kevin Rudd’s inclusion of the Leader of the Opposition in his new bipartisan approach to addressing the social and economic needs of Aboriginal people was a master stroke and will help undercut any party political backlash from the significant minority of Australians who think quite enough has been done to help Aborigines and who disagreed with the apology. Many Aboriginal people I spoke with today were very upset and angry at the response in Parliament by the Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson.

As johnQ on the ABC website blog said of his speech:

All Brendan Nelson had to say was that he endorsed Rudd's speech. Instead he long-windedly indulged in justification of harmful actions taken, a dismissal of
impacts, a dismissal of any responsibility, a dismissal of any opportunity to ever be compensated in any way, an attack on Aborigines and cheap political point-scoring on Howard's controversial interventions - effectively seeking to undo the apology. Could there have been a more disingenuous apology?

But I reminded each of these people whose anger I shared that in a day of meaningful symbols perhaps one of the the most beautiful and hopeful was the presentation of a gift to the Australian Parliament from an indigenous woman representing the Stolen Generations, a gift of a coolamon, the carrying vessels generally made by Aboriginal men from a hardwood such as mallee and traditionally used by the women to carry water, fruits, nuts, as well as to cradle babies.

Apology to the Stolen Generations: not a moment too soon

Around the traps a few voices are saying Kevin Rudd is being overly hasty in making an apology to the Stolen Generations the first order of business of the new parliament on February 13. He should have consulted more widely, seems to be the criticism, and he should have made the apology something more than just a feel-good statement backed by nothing much else in terms of future commitments to indigenous Australians.

My gut feeling is that an apology is so long and painfully overdue, by at least 10 years, since the foundation of the National Sorry Day Committee, or a year earlier, in 1997, when the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission handed down its shocking report, that it is entirely apt that the apology takes place at the earliest opportunity in the life of the new Parliament. It is an opportunity not to be missed.

I know many indigenous and non-indigenous people, understandably, are cynical and unmoved by the prospect of an apology by the Australian Parliament, or at least by the ALP and Greens MPs (frankly, I doubt that many Aboriginal people, who all agree an apology is at least overdue, will give a toss about what the Liberals do or don't do on the day).

But it would be wrong, too, to underestimate just how important the apology will be to Aboriginal people, when it finally comes, including to the many who strongly support it being accompanied by other measures such as compensation to the Stolen Generations, an end to, or at least review of, the Northern Territory intervention, and the establishment nationally of means of genuine engagement with Aboriginal communities and more serious and properly funded efforts to meet the most pressing economic and social needs of indigenous Australians.

Canberra is definitely going to be the place to be on February 12, the first day of Parliament, when Matilda House the much-loved and indomitable Ngambri-Ngunnawal elder leads the Welcome to Country ceremony in the forecourt of Parliament House.

Please Rudd, make it a really good speech, at least. Think Keating's 1992 Redfern Park speech. It's going to be a very emotional day — a time of mixed and deep emotions — for so many of us.

I wish I could be in the forecourt on the Tuesday and in the public gallery to bear witness to the apology on the following day and be surrounded by all the people, dead and alive, who've ached to see such a day, who lost hope, or who didn't, or who never even dreamt that such an act was remotely possible.

It was possible and it will happen.

Only 13 more sleeps.