It is a pity John Howard did not, or could not, go that one step further — beyond “”regret” towards “”sorry”.
The motion in the House of Representatives this week was: “”The House expresses its deep and sincere regret that that indigenous Australians suffered injustices under practices of past generations, and for the hurt and trauma that many indigenous people continue to feel as a consequence of those practices.”
The motion committed the Government to reconciliation and to address economic and social disadvantage.
It was fine as far as it went. It had the support of significant Aboriginal leaders. But, equally, it did not have the support of other significant Aboriginal leaders. Further, it did not go as far in meeting Aboriginal hopes as motions in every other Parliament in Australia bar that of the Northern Territory. The national Parliament should have been equally or more generous in its gesture to reconciliation as state and territory parliaments.
Nonetheless, Democrat Senator Aden Ridgeway, the second indigenous person to be elected to the Parliament, upon whose maiden speech the motion was based, was right to point out that the motion “”clears away some of the obstacles to reconciliation”.
One of those obstacles has arisen from the exposure of practices in the not-to-distant past that resulted in thousands of Aboriginal children being taken from their parents to grow up away from their cultural roots. That may have been well-intentioned and the children often, but not always, were treated well, but it was a travesty against indigenous people as a whole and it was inflicted by the precursor of today’s government apparatus.
Apology would have been more appropriate than regret. “”Regret” is a step removed and it carries no element of responsibility. Being sorry would have given greater recognition for the damage and greater recognition for the responsibility to repair. Just as we rejoice in the inheritance of good things done by our immediate forbears, we can take responsibility to repair the bad things. To that extent, the acknowledgment of the responsibility to address economic and social disadvantages of indigenous people is important.
The motion acknowledged that, “”without doubt, the greatest blemish and stain on the Australian national story is our treatment of the indigenous people”.
Many Australians would agree with that and would further agree that something must be done about it and that a reconciliation be effected.
It is too easy for the present generation to argue that the misdeeds occurred in the distant past and so we have nothing to be apologetic about. However, the dispossession, murder and mistreatment cannot be isolated to the few settlers who first arrived with the connivance and encouragement of the British colonial government. To the contrary, Australian settlers engaged in the dispossession and mistreatment in defiance of the word of British authorities. Moreover, the misdeeds continued until the very recent past. The present generation has inherited the fruits of the dispossession and cannot nor should not walk away from dealing with it.
For many Australians, including many Aboriginal Australians, this week’s parliamentary motion is satisfactory. Many can take some heart that the wording arose from a speech given by an indigenous member of parliament.
It may be enough, but whether it is will largely depend of government attitudes and actions in the future more than the actual words themselves. The fact that the Prime Minister, John Howard, and with him the Government, have moved considerably is a significant step to reconciliation which can now be built upon with action.