australians say sorry but more babies stolen at same time!

[kingwilly]

KEVIN Rudd will this morning say his sorry just two days after the latest baby was "stolen" - from the Aboriginal tent embassy 300m away.
Nothing better symbolises the absurdity of the Prime Minister's apology to the "stolen generations".
The six-week-old baby was taken on Monday by two Department of Community Services officers who judged it was in danger in that squalid camp, now filled with Aborigines in Canberra to celebrate Rudd's sorry.

• Saying sorry: The full apology

A Daily Telegraph reporter who saw the rescue said the baby's grandmother abused the officers as "criminals" who were "taking my family away". The child's father, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said his baby was now one of the "stolen generations" - one of the 100,000 children we're told were stolen just because they were black, not because they needed help.
But this latest baby was in fact "stolen" for the same kind of reasons that had us "steal" Aboriginal children before.
The child's mother is reportedly in jail, and the Daily Telegraph said the father had lived in the tent embassy for six months. If you've seen that "embassy", you'll know it is no fit place for such a terribly young child.
So why does Rudd today say sorry for "stealing" children when we still "steal" the same kind of children for the same reasons from his own doorstep, under his own eyes?
Do not think this child is much different to those of the "stolen generations" to whom Rudd apologises.
Take Mary Hooker, presented by the Sydney Morning Herald this week as a representative of the "stolen generations" - one of the black children stolen by white racists for no good reason.
Hooker, a spokesman for the Stolen Generations Alliance, told her story in a video clip on the Herald's website, during which the camera panned over documents relating to her case.
I froze the picture to read what I could. And here is the true story of this "stolen generations" child.
Hooker's mother was in fact taken to hospital unconscious from an overdose of pills, and Hooker says she didn't wake up for two weeks.
She left behind her 12 children in a house that welfare officers found had plenty of rubbish but little food: "The only food available was three sausages and a small piece of steak."
There is no mention of any man in the house, but the documents show the dad of seven of the children was a prisoner at the Mount Mitchell Afforestation Camp, a low-security jail.
There is also no mention of abuse in what documents I could read, but Hooker last week admitted on ABC radio "there was also abuse going on in the community", and that she had been "raped".
So guess on what grounds welfare officers "stole" Hooker from a filthy, abusive, overcrowded, foodless home, with her mother in a drug-caused coma and a father in jail?
Was it because they were white racists trying to destroy Aborigines, or because they were people just trying to save a little girl?
You guessed right. These documents confirm Hooker and three of her 11 siblings were removed not because they were Aboriginal, but because a magistrate found proven a complaint that "they were neglected" and without a guardian.
Welfare officers would have removed any white child found in such circumstances, I am sure. And most certainly should have.
Yet Hooker is one of the "stolen generations" children Rudd will say he's sorry we "stole", when she in fact was just another Aboriginal child we tried to save. Just like the baby we rescued just two days ago.
If Rudd is sorry we've saved such children, then let's stop. And heaven help those we must now leave behind.

[Cujo]

Whoever wrote that needs to do further research into what the 'stolen generation' refers to.
A time when the official policy was to wipe out the Aborigine by interbreeding.
Whole families were broken up and sent to foster parents.

[Rigger]

Its all a load of crap I know of a few white people the were part of the stolen generation but people still beleive it was just a colour thing.
I think we should say sorry about giving them free housing and medical and schooling just send the fokers back out to live off the land

[kingwilly]

A time when the official policy was to wipe out the Aborigine by interbreeding. Whole families were broken up and sent to foster parents.

load of tripe.

[nedwalk]

i agree, crap, if the bloody do gooders are so concerned let em go out bush and see for them selves,and now i hear on the radio they are gonna throw more money to 'fix' the situation, better houseing,that,ll make the subbies happy, mining boom my arse go to the territory the govt is about to go down the same path as previous ones and build houses for the poor buggers, i,m curious though, how many of the stolen generation are now worse off than if they were left with there communities?

[AntRobertson]

An interesting perspective:

Irfan Yusuf: NZ's race relations a lesson to Aussies

5:00AM Thursday February 14, 2008
By Irfan Yusuf


My South Asian mother taught me two golden lessons in life. First, always be wary of the prayers directed against you by those who feel wronged. They might reject God, but God certainly hears and responds to them.

Second, sometimes you should say sorry, even if you yourself did nothing wrong, if it soothes someone's pain.

Australia's former neo-conservative Prime Minister John Howard used his position repeatedly to preach against what he called the black-armband view of Australian history. He openly spoke of Australia's allegedly Judeo-Christian roots, focusing on a 220-year cultural status quo while ignoring 40,000 years of indigenous Australian culture.

In response to reports of widespread sexual abuse of children in some indigenous communities, supporters of Howard's monocultural monologue in the commentariat penned articles and flooded the airwaves with claims that indigenous cultures all promote sexual violence against women and children.

Howard fostered a warped racism in which newer Australians expressed a fraudulent patriotism by insulting the cultures of the first Australians. It was the highest wave in Howard's monocultural perfect storm.

In 1995, the then Labor Government commissioned the Human Rights & Equal Opportunity Commission to investigate and prepare a report on the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families by compulsion, duress or undue influence. The result was a 689-page report, Bringing Them Home.

The report's introduction reads: "The truth is that the past is very much with us today, in the continuing devastation of the lives of indigenous Australians. That devastation cannot be addressed unless the whole community listens with an open heart and mind to the stories of what happened and, having listened and understood, commits itself to reconciliation."

The report recommended that reparation be made in recognition of the history of gross violations of human rights. This should include acknowledgement and apology by every Parliament. All Australian state and territory Parliaments have formally apologised. This includes Parliaments where John Howard's Liberal Party sat on the Government benches.

By the time the commission's final report was released, John Howard was into the second year of the first term of his Prime Ministership.

He rebuffed the report's recommendations for an apology from the Commonwealth Parliament, claiming there was no reason why a generation of non-indigenous Australians should apologise for the actions of a previous generation. He also said an apology would open the floodgates of compensation claims. (He never questioned the rights of non-indigenous Australians in the same circumstances to legitimately make a claim.)

But times have changed. Last November, Australians of all backgrounds and colours soundly rejected Howard's disgraceful legacy. Howard's defeat was so emphatic that even voters in his own seat turned on him.

To use my mother's South Asian wisdom, we non-indigenous Australians as a whole have reached a stage where we feel the need to lift the curse of indigenous Australians that hangs over our heads. We realise a national apology is the first step.

If a small number of indigenous communities are dysfunctional, much of the blame lies with decades of indigenous families being forcibly broken up. These generations of broken families are referred to as the Stolen Generation.

Australians are beginning to yearn for a kind of Waitangi tang. Commentators are now making reference to the Treaty of Waitangi. As usual, all the best Aussie ideas are coming from across the Tasman.

Both Australia and New Zealand are young nations built by indigenous people and migrants. Both are former British colonies. Both are English-speaking liberal democracies with legal systems based on the English common law.

But unlike Australia, New Zealand's early European settlers entered into some kind of treaty recognising the special association of indigenous people to the land. The cultural tang of Waitangi is absent from Australia, where indigenous peoples, by and large, live in a state of institutionalised disadvantage.

For an outsider like myself, it seems the influence of Maori culture on all New Zealanders is far more apparent than the influence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders on mainstream Australian culture. And Maori culture is shown a greater degree of both official and unofficial respect than Australia's indigenous cultures.
Last month in Sydney's Daily Telegraph, Anita Quigley wrote: "While New Zealand may look with envy at our booming economy and feel unease at the number of its citizens moving here, it has achieved something far more valuable: a united nation. Sadly, and to all our shame, we cannot say the same.

"The cohesive and integrated lives of Maori and Pakeha is by no means perfect, but it is far better than the ever-increasing ugly gulf between Aborigines and white Australians.

"Why is it that our neighbours across the Tasman seem to have got race relations relatively right and we so wrong?

" ... In 1840 there was the momentous Treaty of Waitangi and in 1869, nearly a century before Aborigines were given the vote, all Maori men could cast theirs."
Indigenous Australians have been getting a raw deal at the hands of the non-indigenous for more than two centuries. An apology won't heal the scars completely, but it is a good first step. With Howard gone, the conservatives have seen the light.

Hence, on the first day of sittings on Wednesday February 13, 2008, the Commonwealth Parliament's apology to the Stolen Generation was bipartisan if not unanimous.

* Irfan Yusuf is a Sydney lawyer.

[obsidian]

an apology is free. nice article.

[blackgang]

now they want the govt to come out by that big fucking rock and rebuild their houses cause they ain't fit to live in no more and fill their new cupboards with food and get them new cars and some gas to run em on, they are tired of seeing those foreigners spending $500 a night to lay around that resort and swim in that nice pool when the abo kids got to climb a barbed wire fence and swim in the sewer plant lagoon.
Tell that Rudd guy to get cracking before it comes necessary to start huffing petrol and molesting kids again.

[AntRobertson]

now they want the govt to come out by that big fucking rock and rebuild their houses cause they ain't fit to live in no more and fill their new cupboards with food and get them new cars and some gas to run em on, they are tired of seeing those foreigners spending $500 a night to lay around that resort and swim in that nice pool when the abo kids got to climb a barbed wire fence and swim in the sewer plant lagoon. Tell that Rudd guy to get cracking before it comes necessary to start huffing petrol and molesting kids again.

Your kind of thinking is out-moded and out-dated, blackgang.

Evolve or fight against it, choice is yours, but the fact of the matter is that the world has moved on and you're being increasingly left behind. One day you'll wake up to find you're entirely irrelevant.

[blackgang]

What ya talking about there Pee Wee, where ya had your head for the last year,, don't you remember that they have been having a hell of a time with them people huffing gas and drinking alcohol and molesting kids out there in the outback and they have the cops and soldiers going in the little towns or what ever they call em down there to take the booze and keep them abos from getting drunk and molesting kids,, wake the fuk up antsy..

Or is that shit all forgot about now that they have said sorry for saving a bunch of kids lives by taking them from drunk drugged up parents and putting them in clean well fed foster homes..

[AntRobertson]

^ As per, you have absolutely no idea what you're talking about BG. Some people might see that as an impediment to discussing something, with you it's a prequisite.

You're an anachronism. You and your kind are going the way of the dinosaur.

[Bluecat]

an apology is free.

This I'm not sure.
Could lead to some more compensation claims...

[Mid]

Full text: 'We say sorry'
UPDATED ON:
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2008

Rudd said past policies had "inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss" [GALLO/GETTY]

The following is the full text of the apology from Kevin Rudd, the Australian prime minister, to the country's Aborigines:

Today we honour the indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia's history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia.

Source: Al Jazeera
english.aljazeera.net

[Ping]

an apology is free. nice article.

Australian tax payers, get ready for the Government to say 'sorry', but the tax cuts will now not be possible due to 'stolen generation' liabilities:

Victoria's first stolen generation compensation bid | Herald Sun

A VICTORIAN man is set to sue the State Government in a stolen generation claim that threatens to open the legal floodgates.
Just a day after the Rudd Government's cashless apology, the Herald Sun can reveal that Reservoir man Neville Austin, 44, will launch the first stolen generation claim against the State of Victoria.
The suit could trigger mass action by Aborigines around Australia and comes amid fresh calls for a state-based compensation fund.
Mr Austin says he was removed from his mother as a five-month-old after he was admitted to the Royal Children's Hospital with a chest infection.
It is believed his solicitors have briefed seasoned barrister Jack Rush, QC, who last year helped extract a $4 billion payout from James Hardie Industries for sufferers of asbestos-related disease.
Kristen Hilton, executive director of Public Interest Clearing House, which has been handling stolen generation claims, would not comment on Mr Austin's case but indicated litigation was under way.
"We see 'sorry', the gesture, as one part of the reparation process," she said.
"It acknowledges a wrong has been done and that wrong requires a remedy. We are investigating what remedy."
A writ has been drawn up but is yet to be filed with the courts.
It does not nominate a sum but stolen generation claimants in other jurisdictions have sought between $350,000 and $525,000.

[AntRobertson]

Australian tax payers, get ready for the Government to say 'sorry', but the tax cuts will now not be possible due to 'stolen generation' liabilities

That's quite some leap you're making there. Firstly the litigation has to be successful and given the Govt. stance there's not much to suggest it would be. Secondly, even if it were, immediately linking it to tax cuts (or lack thereof) is premature at best.

[Ping]

Ant - you are quite correct. There is nothing to suggest that it would impact the guaranteed tax cuts... indeed, it would probably be suicidal for the government to take such an approach. I was merely applying the same poetic licence as that used by those who insist that the welfare policies of the time amounted to 'stealing'.

[AntRobertson]

I was merely applying the same poetic licence as that used by those who insist that the welfare policies of the time amounted to 'stealing'.

Ahh fair enough. But I doubt even Banjo Paterson hisself could call them 'welfare' policies either

[Ping]

All the same, it would be interesting to see -
* whether the issue actually goes to litigation
* how many cases proceed to such litigation
* how many are resolved pre-hearing and the disposition of those matters
* whether there are any more noises about class actions (murky)
* the extent of any state-level compensation schemes and the governing rules
* whether any perjured claims, should that occur, are pursued.

[keda]

an apology is free. nice article.

I haven't read all the reports but am sure as can be that this will lead to the chequebook being dusted off...apologies are one thing and free, but with the implication of guilt they must invariably lead to demands for compensation.

[kingwilly]

here we go!

EXCLUSIVE: Up to 40 indigenous Australians are preparing compensation claims against the Victorian government following this week's official apology.
The news comes after this morning's revelation in the Herald Sun that Victorian man Neville Austin, 44, is planning to launch Victoria's first stolen generation claim.

His solicitors have briefed barrister Jack Rush QC, who was part of the legal team that won a $4 billion payout from James Hardie Industries for former workers exposed to lethal doses of asbestos.

But the head of Stolen Generations Victoria and Mr Austin's cousin, Lyn Austin, said while she could not comment on Mr Austin's case, dozens more were preparing similar claims.

"I cannot make comment on that case at all, but ... I do know that there are another 30 or 40 that are going to be doing a civil action claim,'' she told ABC Radio in Melbourne.

"They have a right to pursue a claim if they wish, they were removed through the policies that were upon them.''

Ms Austin said it was a person's prerogative to take civil action if they wished.

"It should be left for the courts and people to have that choice and make a choice of whether they take a civil claim individually or class action,'' she said.

Mr Austin's writ is yet to be filed with the court and does not nominate a payout figure, but claimants in other states have won between $350,000 and $500,000.

Fellow Victorian Bruce Trevorrow won $775,000 when a South Australian court ruled his removal from his family caused long-term depression.
Mr Rush confirmed he was representing Mr Austin in a stolen generation claim.

"I can say I represent him, but I can't talk about the case at all,'' he told AAP.

"We haven't issued it yet, but it's in the pipeline.''

Mr Rush said he has been working on the case with Mr Austin for 12 months.

However, he would not say how much compensation has been sought by Mr Austin or the nature of the case.

A spokesman for Victorian Aboriginal Affairs Minister Richard Wynne said the Government did not yet know the details of the claim.

"We have not received a writ from Mr Austin and cannot comment on the specifics of the case,'' spokesman Ben Ruse said.

"The Victorian Parliament made a bipartisan apology in 1997 and this was reiterated in 2000.

"No compensation has flowed from this apology and our position on compensation has not changed.''
Just a day after the Rudd Government's cashless apology, the Herald Sun revealed that Mr Austin, 44, will launch the first stolen generation claim against the State.
Mr Austin says he was removed from his mother as a five-month-old after he was admitted to the Royal Children's Hospital with a chest infection.
Kristen Hilton, executive director of Public Interest Clearing House, which has been handling stolen generation claims, would not comment on Mr Austin's case but indicated litigation was under way.
"We see 'sorry', the gesture, as one part of the reparation process," she said.
"It acknowledges a wrong has been done and that wrong requires a remedy. We are investigating what remedy."
A writ has been drawn up but is yet to be filed with the courts.
It does not nominate a sum but stolen generation claimants in other jurisdictions have sought between $350,000 and $525,000.
Mr Austin, who told his story during the 2000 National Sorry Day celebrations, claims he was removed from his parents in 1964.
He says he spent the next 18 years in foster homes or orphanages where he was ostracised because of his skin colour.
He said people would say to him: "You're not different - drink more milk, scrub harder in the bath".
"I didn't even know what an Aboriginal was until I was 17," he said at the time.
Mr Austin says he has letters from his mother begging for his return. She died nine years after his 1982 release from state care.
In a public letter, he wrote: "Being Aboriginal was the sole reason I was taken away from a mother and family who loved me. It was all done in the name of assimilation, with the ultimate goal of ridding this country of its indigenous people."
Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency chief executive Muriel Bamblett said a state compensation fund would address concerns that urban Aborigines' plight was being overlooked.
"There is a real concern in Victoria we are not viewed as Aboriginal or part of the stolen generation process," she said. "A fund would generate a lot of goodwill."
Stolen Generations Alliance spokeswoman Karen Mundine said state-based compensation remained an option: "It's up to the states to decide."
Aboriginal Affairs minister Richard Wynne said the Victorian Parliament had already apologised to the stolen generations."No compensation has flowed from this," said spokesman Ben Ruse. "We support the national apology but our position on compensation has not changed."
WA will set up a fund for those abused in state care, including stolen generations members.
Queensland and NSW have rejected the idea; Tasmania has set aside $5 million for surviving stolen generations members and the children of those who have died.

P.S. BG shut up and keep out of this thread, we dont need your help on this issue!

[terry57]

This issue is so complex that the only people who are qualified to comment are Australians and others who have spent many years living in Australia having been personally involved with the aboriginal problem.

The white Australians who live in the city's, ain't been north are absolute munters when they say the aboriginals are mistreated as they have no foking idea what is going on up there and god help you if you are a cop trying to deal with these people.

There's also another part to this story and that is to travel to the north west of Australia and see what is really happening concerning the aboriginals, if you ain't done this you know fok all because its an insane situation with these people.

The government gives them , housing, cars and dole money, 99% of it is spent on alcohol causing all sorts of problems for everybody and thats not even mentioning the sniffing and kiddy fiddling.

But then again its the whites fault ain't it.

Fok off will ya.

The apology will make fok all difference as the vast majority of aboriginals where in the pubs getting pissed of there foking heads and the ones you seen on telli where the small minority of the ones who have it together.

There within lies my point,

Nobody disrespects the aboriginals who do the right thing, which is the minority, but many Australians disrespect the majority who continually cause problems in our country.

I must say once again, if you don't live here shut the fok up.

Thank you very much.

[AntRobertson]

This issue is so complex that the only people who are qualified to comment are Australians and others who have spent many years living in Australia having been personally involved with the aboriginal problem.

Complete and utter rot.

[kingwilly]

Nobody disrespects the aboriginals who do the right thing, which is the minority, but many Australians disrespect the majority who continually cause problems in our country.

and why are they like that??

The white Australians who live in the city's, ain't been north are absolute munters when they say the aboriginals are mistreated as they have no foking idea what is going on up there and god help you if you are a cop trying to deal with these people.

I did live up north with Aboriginal populations. It is dire. Possibly some of the fault lies with government policies, culture, history etc

The question is, where to next?

[Texpat]

This issue is so complex that the only people who are qualified to comment are Australians and others who have spent many years living in Australia having been personally involved with the aboriginal problem.

Teak Door would cease to exist if people who knew absolutely nothing about a subject were prohibited from rattling on about it for 500 posts or more.

[Little Chuchok]

This issue is so complex that the only people who are qualified to comment are Australians and others who have spent many years living in Australia having been personally involved with the aboriginal problem.

Complete and utter rot.

DITTO.Terrence you knob,I suppose it'd the aboriginals fault for having their kids stolen.....