![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flexibeastSo the Australian Federal Government has finally said the word that previous Liberal/National governments couldn't: Sorry.
i must say that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's speech was better than i expected, and kudos to him and the ALP government for not being as mealy-mouthed as i was afraid they might be. On the other hand, the ALP has a history of saying many fine words but not backing them up by actions when in government. (Case in point: For all their claimed opposition to the previous government's IR laws, their policy is to only overturn a selection of them.) So i now hope that they'll walk the talk, and treat Australia's indigenous people with respect instead of paternalistic condescension. For example, they should bring to an end the racist 'intervention' imposed upon the indigenous communities of the Northern Territory: abuse of children is not at all limited to indigenous families in the NT, and singling out indigenous parents in a way that non-indigenous parents are not is nothing if not racist. Solutions to this problem need to involve genuine collaboration with indigenous communities, not holier-than-thou proclamations and behaviours from a society which, having attempted the genocide of the indigenous peoples of this country, has no right to the moral high ground.
Saying 'Sorry' is a good start - but it's just the beginning.
Update, 14.2.2008:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sacred_harlot has posted to her LJ a poem she wrote in 2003 which describes how the Stolen Generation is just one of many things Anglo Australia has to apologise for.
i must say that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's speech was better than i expected, and kudos to him and the ALP government for not being as mealy-mouthed as i was afraid they might be. On the other hand, the ALP has a history of saying many fine words but not backing them up by actions when in government. (Case in point: For all their claimed opposition to the previous government's IR laws, their policy is to only overturn a selection of them.) So i now hope that they'll walk the talk, and treat Australia's indigenous people with respect instead of paternalistic condescension. For example, they should bring to an end the racist 'intervention' imposed upon the indigenous communities of the Northern Territory: abuse of children is not at all limited to indigenous families in the NT, and singling out indigenous parents in a way that non-indigenous parents are not is nothing if not racist. Solutions to this problem need to involve genuine collaboration with indigenous communities, not holier-than-thou proclamations and behaviours from a society which, having attempted the genocide of the indigenous peoples of this country, has no right to the moral high ground.
Saying 'Sorry' is a good start - but it's just the beginning.
Update, 14.2.2008:
sacred_harlot has posted to her LJ a poem she wrote in 2003 which describes how the Stolen Generation is just one of many things Anglo Australia has to apologise for.
