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terryfrost at 12:09pm on 13/02/2008 under sorry day
terryfrost at 12:09pm on 13/02/2008 under sorry dayI just finished watching the ABC1 coverage of the Australian government's apology to the stole generations and my overwhelming feelings are pride and hope. There are parallels in my own personal history to the stolen generations so maybe it resonates with me more than it does for the one third of Australians who believe that the apology wasn't necessary. I burned the whole footage onto a DVD-R as a keepsake. Today is an important day for this country. After a dozen bleak Howard Years where the sole emphasis was the pockets of some Australians rather than the hearts of us all, Monday's welcome to country ceremony and today's apology show a (potential) paradigm shift in this nation.
Kevin Rudd hit "statesman" on his third parliamentary sitting day as Prime Minister. He brought it all. Eloquence, compassion, gravitas, inclusionism and a strong sense of the future of Australia. Brendan Nelson, the opposition leader, less so. For a Doctor, he seems to have no sense of consulting with a patient before writing a prescription. His speech took things off at a tangent which showed a lack of understanding of what today is about. Some viewers and guests turned their back on him when he began to invoke the ANZAC spirit and the sacrifices of white Australians to build this country. There was obviously a lot of backbencher input to the wording and will probably hasten a leadership challenge on Dr Nelson.
I first heard of the stolen generations over twenty years ago, well before the 300,000 strong protest march I attended in Sydney on the 26th of January 1988. Radio Redfern was a part of it. Listening to Tiga Bayles and his mob covering indigenous issues on a station they shared with Radio Skidrow, was an eye opener for me. I had spent part of my childhood on the streets of Redfern (my paternal grandparents lived there for almost forty years) and played with the kids on the streets, who were mostly aboriginal. I went to school with kids who were of the stolen generation, too. Their anger and pain are things I strongly remember from those years. For them I am happy that today occurred and personally say sorry for the things that were done to them in my name.
In the past dozen years there has been little to be proud of in being an Australian. Mean-spirited old men set the agendas for the country for our own equivalent of Britain's Thatcher Years. The politics of race, as it impacted indigenous Australians, refugees and immigrants held sway during that 1.2 decade dark age. (Howard was the only minister of the Fraser Government in the 70s who voted against helping and welcoming Vietnamese boat people into the country. His mindset was suited to, not the last century, but the one before it. Of course he was nowhere in sight today. History will be as unkind to John Winston Howard as he was to so many people who came to our shores in desperate need.
As I said, I'm hopeful. I hope the momentum of today continues. I hope that the spirit of the light on the hill prevails and that we can all continue to have pride in Australia and its' government.
Kevin Rudd hit "statesman" on his third parliamentary sitting day as Prime Minister. He brought it all. Eloquence, compassion, gravitas, inclusionism and a strong sense of the future of Australia. Brendan Nelson, the opposition leader, less so. For a Doctor, he seems to have no sense of consulting with a patient before writing a prescription. His speech took things off at a tangent which showed a lack of understanding of what today is about. Some viewers and guests turned their back on him when he began to invoke the ANZAC spirit and the sacrifices of white Australians to build this country. There was obviously a lot of backbencher input to the wording and will probably hasten a leadership challenge on Dr Nelson.
I first heard of the stolen generations over twenty years ago, well before the 300,000 strong protest march I attended in Sydney on the 26th of January 1988. Radio Redfern was a part of it. Listening to Tiga Bayles and his mob covering indigenous issues on a station they shared with Radio Skidrow, was an eye opener for me. I had spent part of my childhood on the streets of Redfern (my paternal grandparents lived there for almost forty years) and played with the kids on the streets, who were mostly aboriginal. I went to school with kids who were of the stolen generation, too. Their anger and pain are things I strongly remember from those years. For them I am happy that today occurred and personally say sorry for the things that were done to them in my name.
In the past dozen years there has been little to be proud of in being an Australian. Mean-spirited old men set the agendas for the country for our own equivalent of Britain's Thatcher Years. The politics of race, as it impacted indigenous Australians, refugees and immigrants held sway during that 1.2 decade dark age. (Howard was the only minister of the Fraser Government in the 70s who voted against helping and welcoming Vietnamese boat people into the country. His mindset was suited to, not the last century, but the one before it. Of course he was nowhere in sight today. History will be as unkind to John Winston Howard as he was to so many people who came to our shores in desperate need.
As I said, I'm hopeful. I hope the momentum of today continues. I hope that the spirit of the light on the hill prevails and that we can all continue to have pride in Australia and its' government.
hopeful