Australia’s Labour government has taken a commendable step towards righting historic wrongs done to the country’s aboriginal people. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has formally apologised to the aborigines for laws and policies that inflicted immense suffering on them. He specifically apologised for a controversial policy of assimilation, which the Australian government adopted in the late 19th century under which aboriginal children were taken from their families and placed in white foster homes with the aim of ‘civilising’ them and inculcating in them European values. The policy was jettisoned in the late 1960s after a study discredited it. It was only in the late 1990s that the policy’s impact was made public. Apologies from state governments followed but Australia’s federal government under the Conservative Prime Minister John Howard refused to apologise. It was at best willing to express its ‘deep and sincere regret’ claiming that an apology would encourage a sense of victimhood among the aborigines and that since the present generation of Australians were not the authors of the policy there was no reason for them to apologise. But Prime Minister Rudd has repudiated the half-hearted approach of his predecessor. His unambiguous apology indicates that his government is keen to right the wrongs done to successive generations of aborigines.
Around 30 per cent of Australians are said to be opposed to the apology to the aborigines. If the spirit of reconciliation should result in a real change in race relations, this section will have to be brought on board. Sections among the aborigines have dismissed the apology as inadequate as it has not been accompanied by monetary compensation. Indeed an apology alone is symbolic, but its significance must not be diminished. After all it does represent a shift in the way the government is approaching the issue. However, it must act now to take the apology further.
Aborigines were Australia’s indigenous people. When white settlers took away their land without compensating them they were left with nothing. Today they are the country’s most disadvantaged group. Life expectancy for aborigines is 17 years lower than the national average and unemployment is three times higher. Alcoholism, drug abuse and crime are serious problems in the community. Rudd has promised measures to improve health, education and housing for them. He must act soon to fulfil these pledges.
