One word that held such power.
For some it was a word that was avoided lest it implied an assumption of blame, of guilt.
For others, it was an acknowledgement that a great wrong had been done.
The word that was written in the Sydney sky — a public expression of regret.
February 13, 2008.
Crowds gathered on the lawns outside Canberra’s Parliament House.
Thousands of others watched on screens across the nation.
Anticipation, uncertainty, hope, sorrow — some of the many emotions felt on that momentous day.
A day, the path to which was started with the handing down of the 1997 Bringing Them Home Report.
The report that set out to reveal the impact of past laws, practices and policies that “resulted in the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families by compulsion, duress or undue influence, and the effects of those laws, practices and policies”.
To formally record a dark truth in Australia’s history.
The House of Representatives’ public gallery was full.
The Clerk stood and read out the following: “Government Business notice number 1: A motion Offering an Apology to Australia’s Indigenous peoples.”
With these words uttered, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stood, stepped to the despatch box and began to speak.
“I move,” he said.
“That 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.”
The words, a recognition of the experiences of the thousands of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children across the nation taken from their homes, their families and their communities.
Words that so many thought would never come.
Finally, the acknowledgement of their pain, sorrow and deep hurt and the life-shattering consequences of being removed.
Truths that so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait families and communities knew only too well.
The response of the crowd, a vindication that the words uttered had resonated, had spoken directly to individuals, to families, to communities across the nation.
At the time, in his formal response to the Apology, then Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Dr Tom Calma declared:
“Through one direct act, the parliament has acknowledged the existence and the impacts of past policies and practices of forcibly removing Indigenous children from their families, and by doing so has paid respect to the Stolen Generations for their suffering and their loss, and for their resilience, and ultimately, for their dignity.”
Sorry is a potent word.
As Sir Ronald Wilson, one of the authors of the Bringing Them Home Report, said: “It indicates understanding, a willingness to enter into the suffering, and implies a commitment to do more.”
It is this willingness to do more that is at issue.
Speaking about the power of narrative in the stories in the 1997 Bringing Them Home Report, Leonie Norrington, novelist and co-author of the recently released novel A piece of red cloth, said: “Had everyone read those stories, it would have changed the way we understood the whole business of taking the children away.
“But instead, people started arguing academically and historically about it, which meant that it became a ‘them and us’. We lost this huge opportunity for healing.”
Such arguments deflected attention away from the core issue: generations of First Nations children who were forcibly taken from their homes, as a consequence of racist and unjust laws and policies, were — and still are — struggling with the legacies of these actions.
Many survivors have still not had access to redress schemes, a cornerstone of the Bringing Them Home Report that was delivered nearly 30 years ago.
The Healing Foundation’s newly released report, Are you waiting for us to die?
The unfinished business of Bringing Them Home clearly outlines the failure of successive governments to make meaningful change by implementing the report’s recommendations.
Of the 83 recommendations, only five have been clearly implemented (six per cent); 45 have failed to be implemented (54 per cent); 11 received a qualified pass; 10 have been classified as a partial failure; another 10 — status unclear; and one is no longer applicable.
A shocking report card by any measure.
Last year the Healing Foundation invited Australians to stand alongside Stolen Generations survivors to support the call for the counting of actions, not anniversaries.
This year the call is still the same but with added urgency.
Healing Foundation chief executive Shannan Dodson also emphasised the need for a co-ordinated response to support.
“There must also be ongoing support to the many Stolen Generations organisations across the country that have the expertise and knowledge to provide holistic, culturally safe and trauma-informed responses to the need of survivors.”
She went on to say: “And so it is really up to all of us to understand the urgency and the need to ensure that those recommendations [of the Bringing Them Home Report] are fully implemented, not in five years, not in 10 or 20 or another generation, but now.”
So, while we may have attended recent events acknowledging the significance of the National Apology, we also need to consider what we can do to add our voices to the calls for urgent, co-ordinated action.
We must ensure consistent and adequate compensation is seen by survivors in their lifetimes. And with many survivors sadly passing away, there is no time to waste.
What can you do?
Read the Bringing Them Home Report and consider the courage of those who shared their experiences to make sure there was a record of this part of our history: humanrights.gov.au/our-work/projects/bringing-them-home-report-1997
Write to your Federal Member of Parliament requesting that the implementation of the Bringing Them Home Report recommendations be taken up as a matter of urgency.
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