Page 245 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 2008
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Aboriginal Australians because in many ways we need to apologise to them all for our political bigotry and failure to address the wrongs of the past. This, therefore, is a moment of great reflection and a time when I believe we can truly build upon and fully experience true reconciliation.
Unlike some people I know, I have not walked the streets of Indigenous Aboriginal communities in Alice Springs or Darwin; nor have I raised millions of dollars for Indigenous drug and alcohol rehabilitation services; nor do I dare, not for a moment, stand here and proclaim that I or this parliament have all the answers. I do know one thing, though: this apology was the right thing to do in order that we can allow the Aboriginal communities around Australia to move on to a better and brighter future full of hope.
The spiritual and cultural significance of saying sorry cannot be underestimated. As we reflect on past injustices and apologise for the wrongs, now is the time to roll our sleeves up. This is when the work begins, to place our political differences to one side and in a bipartisan way substantively address the issues that face our Indigenous people. I for one am not prepared any more to focus on the negatives. This will do little to restore broken lives. I am delighted that the federal government has now apologised to our Indigenous people and I agree with Mick Dodson when he said yesterday:
The apology to Indigenous Australians is not about dwelling on the past, it’s about building a future.
As has also been said, we now have a blank page inserted into our historical text. It is important that the opening paragraphs are drafted well and with the future in mind. A solid foundation must be crafted to ensure that all future policy for our Indigenous Australians is enabling, not disabling, and that we empower Aboriginal people in areas such as health, education and employment.
We must also be cognisant of the fact that, for this apology to bear fruit, we must with humility ask for forgiveness. Indigenous Australians will also need to forgive those who have meted out these injustices. In forgiving those that have wronged us, we importantly set ourselves free. None of us can, nor should we, stay bitter. This is why this apology was so important and so right. It now allows us to break the shackles of bitterness and constructively work together and move forward.
As the pomp and ceremony and media frenzy move away, we are left with a real sense of responsibility. It is almost like after a death. There needs to be a time now where we gather around all members in our community of Aboriginal heritage to support them. When the activity has died down, this is when people are going to need us, need our support, need our encouragement, need us as a legislature to work towards assisting them in any way that we can.
What happened was terribly wrong and no amount of justification can resolve us from that very fact. However, as both Mick Dodson and Noel Pearson alluded to, let us together, white and black Australia, now start building the future.
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