Next week when the Commonwealth Parliament sits for the first time since the election, Kevin Rudd and Brendan Nelson have an opportunity to apologise, in our name, for those wrongs suffered by Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, in our name. We have been talking about this for over a decade. Now is the time to act.
Let's consider the history of this apology. At the 1997 Reconciliation Convention in Melbourne, the Bringing Them Home Report was launched, highlighting the plight of those indigenous children removed without lawful authority and without consideration of their best interests.
Prime Minister John Howard made a personal apology. He said: 'Personally, I feel deep sorrow for those of my fellow Australians who suffered injustices under the practices of past generations towards indigenous people. Equally, I am sorry for the hurt and trauma many here today may continue to feel, as a consequence of these practices.'
Having been rapporteur at the Convention, I then wrote to Prime Minister Howard suggesting a formula of words for a collective apology by the Parliament. His Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, John Herron responded: 'The Prime Minister acknowledges and thanks you for your support for his personal apology to indigenous people ... However, the government does not support an official national apology. Such an apology could imply that present generations are in some way responsible and accountable for the actions of earlier generations; actions that were sanctioned by the laws of the time and that were believed to be in the best interests of the children concerned.'
It's true some of the injustices suffered under the practices of past generations were 'sanctioned by law and were believed to be in the best interests of the children concerned'. Regardless of what our politicians said, those injustices could not attract compensation in the courts. There were other injustices which were not sanctioned by law and were not necessarily believed to be in the best interests of the children. Some who suffered these injustices are still alive, and they may be entitled to compensation, regardless of what our politicians might say or not say. Their compensation claims were neither helped nor hindered by John Howard's 1997 personal apology. And they would be neither helped nor hindered by a Commonwealth parliamentary apology in 2008.
Most, if not all such injustices, occurred prior to 1967 when the Commonwealth did not even have the constitutional power to intervene on Aboriginal issues in the states. Yet the states have been forthcoming with their own apologies, including Jeff Kennett in Victoria who a month before Senator Herron wrote, moved the motion, seconded by the leader of the Opposition, that the Victorian Parliament 'apologises to the Aboriginal people on behalf of all Victorians for the past policies under which Aboriginal children were removed from their families and expresses deep regret at the hurt and distress this has caused and reaffirms its support for reconciliation between all Australians'. There has been no raid on the Victorian treasury coffers in the last decade.
Back in May 2000, Dr Brendan Nelson hosted a dinner for Australia's key indigenous leaders at Old Parliament House to honour the memory of Senator Neville Bonner. Relations were tense between indigenous leaders and the Howard Government. Nelson spoke eloquently and impressed many of us who were there.
Three weeks later while addressing the school community at Pymble Ladies College in his Sydney north shore electorate, he mused on the issue of an apology. He told the parents and children:
'In the same way that we actively embrace and own ... the idealism, self-sacrifice and values of earlier generations perhaps most notably those who defined our emerging nation at Gallipoli, can we not feel a sense of shame about other actions? There is not a parent here today who does not feel that they are doing the best they can for you. Yet you and your children will look back from the future and wonder why on earth we did some of the things we did in the name of the 'right thing'.
'There is no position that is right or wrong in this ... Before the nation does apologise should it do so, most Australians need to understand what happened, why it happened and the impact that events had not only on Aboriginal people, but also us. Past injustices are not dealt with by creating new ones now.'
Eight years on, the senior traditional hard men of the Liberal Party like Bill Heffernan and Shane Stone have indicated that it is time to act. The Herron-Howard rationale for inaction is no longer tenable. It is not good enough to have each new prime minister having to make a personal apology. It is time for the Commonwealth Parliament to make an official national apology.
Kevin Rudd has done the right thing, committing his government to broad indigenous, community and cross-party discussion about how best to express the apology. The bottom line is that it must include an unadorned 'sorry', apologising to indigenous Australians for past injustices, and for the hurt and trauma still suffered as a consequence of those injustices.
It is time for our national leaders to draw the line on our behalf so that we can move on, committed to reconciliation and narrowing those critical gaps in health, education, and life expectancy. It is time for Brendan Nelson to exercise political leadership and for the Coalition parties to match personal sentiment and national commitment. It is time for Kevin Rudd to move, and for Brendan Nelson to second, the motion that we apologise and commit ourselves to put right the wrongs of the past so that we Australians can move forward shaping a reconciled future.
Now is the time because we Australians have had more than enough years to understand what happened, why it happened and its impact on all of us.
UPDATE following Wednesday's decision of Dr Brendan Nelson to offer conditional support for a bipartisan apology:
The Coalition parties are to be commended for their decision to support the parliamentary apology. There is still the delicate politics of finalising the wording. Minister Jenny Macklin has been meeting respectfully with a broad range of indigenous Australians who want the parliament to apologise. Prime Minister Rudd has dealt honourably with the Coalition discussing the matter directly with Brendan Nelson. History teaches that we are not quite there yet.
Back in August 1988, Prime Minister Bob Hawke had invited Opposition Leader John Howard to second the first motion to be moved in the new Parliament House acknowledging the place of indigenous Australians in our history and in our national life. At the last moment, the wording of a bipartisan resolution could not be agreed upon despite John Howard’s willingness because of some refractory elements in the Coalition. Hopefully Brendan Nelson has minimised the risk of those elements derailing this important national event.
When the motion of apology is moved next week, those on both sides of the chamber might recall Neville Bonner’s Jagera Sorry Chant sung in the old Parliament House at the 1998 Constitutional Convention. Sir James Killen observed, 'I never thought that the word 'gracious' could be used in relation to indictment, but this chamber, and indeed the country today, has been presented with a gracious indictment against it, and that indictment has been presented by my old friend Neville Bonner.' It is now time for a gracious, heartfelt, unanimous apology acknowledging our national indictment for past wrongs.
Frank Brennan SJ AO is a professor of law in the Institute of Legal Studies at the Australian Catholic University and Professorial Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of NSW. He is presently the Visiting Presidential Scholar at Santa Clara University, California. Image: Sydney Morning Herald 29/1/08