Mr BALCH - 2000-08-15
He hassuggested that any so-called reparation tribunal should include all Australian children who for whatever reason were torn from their families. However, Labor’s federal member for the Northern Territory, Warren Snowdon, today scoffed at that suggestion. Could the Chief Minister please explain to this House whom he had in mind when he suggested any tribunal should be open to any Australian?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I am happy to put on the record my position. I note that on ABC radio this morning the federal member, Mr Snowdon, scoffed at any idea that a reparation tribunal would have to be all-inclusive rather than only catering for some particular group.
First, with regard to the Cubillo/Gunner trial, while there has been plenty of comment from the opposition and others who claim ownership of this particular issue and have suggested somehow there has been a travesty of justice, I believe that any level-headed Australian would celebrate the fact that any Australian, using the mechanisms that are in place under our constitutional and legal processes, and using the generosity of the Australian taxpayer, can present a case to the court. That case will be progressed to its ultimate decision at the taxpayers’ expense. I am intrigued that people can somehow run the notion that our constitutional and legal practices do not provide for the ultimate resolution of any of these kinds of issues.
Now, the notion has been put forward that we should somehow have a reparation tribunal for the Stolen Generations. I do not believe a reparation tribunal, if it were decided to have one in place, would be anything but divisive if it were put in place for one group of Australians.
With regard to Warren Snowdon’s comments, I think he would need to explain to the children of non-Aboriginal mothers who were taken forcibly from their mothers by the practices of Australian society, using the cultural norms of the time, particularly during the early years of the 20th century. I believe there would not be all that many extended families in Australia who have not been touched by that in some way. Many of those children and mothers to this day are still searching for each other. That was done to not only Aboriginal mothers but also to non-Aboriginal mothers. To my mind, any notion that a reparation tribunal to look into the circumstances and the cultural decisions and mores of our time should only cater for one particular group would be divisive at the very least.
He also might like to explain why the children who were evacuated from Britain in World War II, many forcibly separated from their mothers and growing up in Australia - and to this day many of them cannot find their next-of-kin – should be excluded from any sort of reparation tribunal. He might like to tell the woman who rang my office last week, who had just only met her sister after 40 years of forced separation, why she is somehow less important, and explain to that family of five - two of the brothers suicided in the interim because of the way they were treated in homes they were forced into as children, sexually abused, and in circumstances no different to those that have been quoted by those of the Stolen Generations - why somehow they would be excluded from the tribunal.
I believe that if we are going to address this issue in a practical and reconciliatory way, the Northern Territory government has pointed the way. As far back as 1994, Marshall Perron put in place and was the keynote person to address the Going Home conference, the first of its type in Australia to look at how we could help those affected by those policies. This government has funded, in a reasonable way, assistance for such conferences and assistance affected by those policies, Aboriginal people, to gain access to their records. That is the sort of practical way we can approach this issue.
We should never forget, when we hear Labor Party operatives and leaders calling for apologies to be put around the place, that it was a Labor government that was in power in 1994 when that report was brought down. It was a Labor government that was quite capable of making apologies, not only at that time but at any time in the 13 years they were in government. They were absolutely silent. It is only since they have been in opposition that they have somehow got some moral conscience on the whole issue.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I am happy to put on the record my position. I note that on ABC radio this morning the federal member, Mr Snowdon, scoffed at any idea that a reparation tribunal would have to be all-inclusive rather than only catering for some particular group.
First, with regard to the Cubillo/Gunner trial, while there has been plenty of comment from the opposition and others who claim ownership of this particular issue and have suggested somehow there has been a travesty of justice, I believe that any level-headed Australian would celebrate the fact that any Australian, using the mechanisms that are in place under our constitutional and legal processes, and using the generosity of the Australian taxpayer, can present a case to the court. That case will be progressed to its ultimate decision at the taxpayers’ expense. I am intrigued that people can somehow run the notion that our constitutional and legal practices do not provide for the ultimate resolution of any of these kinds of issues.
Now, the notion has been put forward that we should somehow have a reparation tribunal for the Stolen Generations. I do not believe a reparation tribunal, if it were decided to have one in place, would be anything but divisive if it were put in place for one group of Australians.
With regard to Warren Snowdon’s comments, I think he would need to explain to the children of non-Aboriginal mothers who were taken forcibly from their mothers by the practices of Australian society, using the cultural norms of the time, particularly during the early years of the 20th century. I believe there would not be all that many extended families in Australia who have not been touched by that in some way. Many of those children and mothers to this day are still searching for each other. That was done to not only Aboriginal mothers but also to non-Aboriginal mothers. To my mind, any notion that a reparation tribunal to look into the circumstances and the cultural decisions and mores of our time should only cater for one particular group would be divisive at the very least.
He also might like to explain why the children who were evacuated from Britain in World War II, many forcibly separated from their mothers and growing up in Australia - and to this day many of them cannot find their next-of-kin – should be excluded from any sort of reparation tribunal. He might like to tell the woman who rang my office last week, who had just only met her sister after 40 years of forced separation, why she is somehow less important, and explain to that family of five - two of the brothers suicided in the interim because of the way they were treated in homes they were forced into as children, sexually abused, and in circumstances no different to those that have been quoted by those of the Stolen Generations - why somehow they would be excluded from the tribunal.
I believe that if we are going to address this issue in a practical and reconciliatory way, the Northern Territory government has pointed the way. As far back as 1994, Marshall Perron put in place and was the keynote person to address the Going Home conference, the first of its type in Australia to look at how we could help those affected by those policies. This government has funded, in a reasonable way, assistance for such conferences and assistance affected by those policies, Aboriginal people, to gain access to their records. That is the sort of practical way we can approach this issue.
We should never forget, when we hear Labor Party operatives and leaders calling for apologies to be put around the place, that it was a Labor government that was in power in 1994 when that report was brought down. It was a Labor government that was quite capable of making apologies, not only at that time but at any time in the 13 years they were in government. They were absolutely silent. It is only since they have been in opposition that they have somehow got some moral conscience on the whole issue.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016