Sorry Dr Nelson, Australia's Moved On

Why is sorry still the hardest word to say for the Federal Opposition?

In response to expectations Kevin Rudd will make a formal Australian Government apology to the Stolen Generations a key order of business during the first sitting week of the new parliament, Brendan Nelson is blowing the dog whistle he inherited from John Howard.

The Opposition leader has condemned the Prime Minister’s plans to prioritise a national apology, saying the issues of petrol prices and interest rates should take precedence over finally implementing the key recommendation of the ten-year-old Bringing Them Home report on the Stolen Generations. But the election of the Rudd Government signalled a shift in the priorities of Australians – they voted not only for change but for more heart in government. And try as Brendan Nelson might to subdue the national conscience by dragging the focus back to a narrow, soulless fixation on hip-pocket economics, the country has moved on.

The Opposition leader is also arguing that white Australians should be formally consulted prior to an apology being issued. Newsflash Dr Nelson: Australians voted for a Rudd Government knowing Labor had promised to prioritise an apology to the generations of Indigenous Australians forcibly removed from their families in an act the Stolen Generations Inquiry found was genocidal.

While John Howard swore blind he’d never utter a personal or collective apology to the Stolen Generations, Brendan Nelson has a chance to avoid Howard’s legacy of poisoning black-white relations. In the 12 years of the Howard Government, so many bridges to Aboriginal Australia were burned and so many long-suffering people further alienated, that history will inevitably record those years as divisive and counter-productive to the essential task of reconciliation. But instead of being bold and injecting some social values into Australian Conservative politics, the good doctor is determined to follow in the destructive footsteps of yesterday’s man.

He’s towing Howard’s line – that the current generation of Australians has no responsibility for the “largely well intentioned” policies of past governments. But he claims he’s shed tears about the violent history of white-black relations in Australia and has spoken of his deep respect for and empathy with Aboriginal Australians. Incongruous.

In an attempt to justify his stance, Nelson argues that the Rudd government should focus on the very high mortality and sexual abuse rates among Aboriginal Australians – those he calls the "real issues" - rather than an apology to the Indigenous community. But he fails to acknowledge that these problems are the product of the generational effects of the racist policies of past governments and they can’t ever be adequately addressed without healing the deeper wounds that sustain them. An apology to the Stolen Generations is both a moral necessity and a fundamental stepping stone to reconciliation which is, in turn, essential to the transformation of the lives of Indigenous Australians.

The reconciliation process - which looked so inspired and promising under Paul Keating’s leadership in the early 90’s - stagnated so badly in the Howard Years that Howard’s own hand-picked National Indigenous Council considered resigning in the lead up to the Federal Election in protest at the hopelessness of the situation. Therefore it is imperative Kevin Rudd act decisively and forcefully to salvage the process and an official apology to Indigenous Australians is the place he knows he must start.

In any relationship breakdown there is one word that’s crucial to mending wounds and rebuilding bridges – the very essence of reconciliation. That word is sorry and as the song says it is often the hardest word to say, but it is also the straightest path to genuine forgiveness - the healing power of relationship reconstruction. It's a word Aboriginal Australians and supporters of the reconciliation movement want to hear - in recognition of over two centuries of massacre, abuse, disenfranchisement, discrimination and ongoing disadvantage. It's a word that's already been uttered by many in public life and it is one which will soon finally be cemented by the Australian Parliament.

Despite the claims of Howardesque conservatives and revisionist historians, an official apology to the Stolen generations is not about misplaced guilt. Aboriginal Australia doesn’t want white guilt (although as a friend suggested to me recently, guilt may be the basis of social caring). But Indigenous Australians do want the past acknowledged and they need the healing that could flow from the utterance of that small word we all insist our children learn in their first grasp of language.

Let’s hope Brendan Nelson finds it in his heart to resist the cheap political points that may flow from moving against an apology in the parliament. Having the courage to do what’s right instead of just what is easy or popular is a true measure of leadership. And in Nelson's case there's an Opposition leader-in-waiting (Malcom Turnbull) who has endorsed an official apology to the Stolen Generations.

Let’s hope Kevin Rudd is prepared to drive the reconciliation process forward, beyond the powerful symbolism of an apology.

Update: Kevin Rudd has confirmed the Australian Government will apologise to the Stolen Generations on February 13th. The Ngunnawal people of Canberra will hold a special ceremony marking the opening of the first parliament of the Rudd Government the previous day.

Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin is pleading for bi-partisan backing of the apology but the Federal Opposition leadership is digging in its divisive heels, resisting calls for a conscience vote on the apology and opposing the Government's strategy at every turn. Shadow Indigenous Affairs spokesman Tony Abbott claims an apology is unnecessary because some things were 'done right'. I presume he also thinks Priests who sexually abuse their young parishioners shouldn't have to apologise either because they still presided over Holy Communion with dilligence.

Opposition leader-in-waiting, Malcolm Turnbull is the lone voice of reason among senior Liberals, calling for the Coalition to back the apology or risk being relegated to irrelevancy. Turnbull's stance has the strong backing of former Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser who campaigned strongly against Howard government racism.

On a more uplifting note, members of the Stolen Generations around the country have poured out their hearts in response to news of the apology many thought they'd never live to hear. The moving stories have made tears of grief and relief well up in my eyes. And in an act of generosity that gives me hope for the reconciliation process, ABC listeners have come to the aid of a woman who told her story of forced removal to AM and expressed a desire to hear the apology for herself. Sixty eight year old Zita Wallace told AM she couldn't afford the cost of the trip from Alice Springs to Canberra. But within minutes of her story being aired, five listeners had rung the ABC switch offering to fund Ms Wallace's journey. "I think they're just being true-spirited Aussies, and coming out in them their generosity to help another human being, and I feel very honoured that they've selected me and my group to assist."She told PM She is now looking forward to hearing those letters S-O-R-R-Y in person.

Meanwhile, you can read the Stolen Generations' Alliance recommendations on the national apology in this report presented to the government last week..