The National Indigenous Times January 2008 editorial.
"The Rudd government's handling of the sorry saga over an apology and payment of compensation to members of the Stolen Generation represents both a step forward and a step backward.
And as any fifth grader will tell you, that adds up to not much progress at all.
The step forward is that a national apology will be delivered. Granted, for Indigenous Australians extracting the word 'sorry' must feel like drawing blood from a stone. But a belated apology is better than no apology at all.
The step backward is that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his Indigenous affairs minister, Jenny Macklin have decided that no compensation will be forthcoming. That is deeply disappointing.
Of course, the practice of removal was primarily committed by state governments, so it is not the federal government's responsibility to compensate ALL Aboriginal people for the Stolen Generations outrage, even though some leadership from federal Labor on the issue would have been welcome.
But it is most certainly the federal government's responsibility in relation to the Northern Territory, which was under Commonwealth control until the late 1970s.
Sadly, politics got in the way of progress again.
Rudd simply did not want his Prime Ministership defined by an early act of 'generosity' towards 'the blacks'. While it may well have been the 'right thing to do', politics is about pragmatism and populism, not principle and leadership."
National Indigenous Times editorial in full:
And as any fifth grader will tell you, that adds up to not much progress at all.
The step forward is that a national apology will be delivered. Granted, for Indigenous Australians extracting the word 'sorry' must feel like drawing blood from a stone. But a belated apology is better than no apology at all.
The step backward is that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his Indigenous affairs minister, Jenny Macklin have decided that no compensation will be forthcoming. That is deeply disappointing.
Of course, the practice of removal was primarily committed by state governments, so it is not the federal government's responsibility to compensate ALL Aboriginal people for the Stolen Generations outrage, even though some leadership from federal Labor on the issue would have been welcome.
But it is most certainly the federal government's responsibility in relation to the Northern Territory, which was under Commonwealth control until the late 1970s.
Sadly, politics got in the way of progress again.
Rudd simply did not want his Prime Ministership defined by an early act of 'generosity' towards 'the blacks'. While it may well have been the 'right thing to do', politics is about pragmatism and populism, not principle and leadership."
National Indigenous Times editorial in full:
The Australian legal system has recognised that compensation is due to individuals from the Stolen Generation.
"THE first stolen generation Aborigine to be given compensation has been awarded another $250,000 by a South Australian court.
Bruce Trevorrow was awarded $525,000 in compensation in August last year after a South Australian judge ruled the state falsely imprisoned him as a child and owed him a duty of care for pain and suffering.
Lawyers for Mr Trevorrow then returned to court seeking 50 years of interest on the compensation payment.
The lawyers argued Mr Trevorrow should receive an extra $800,000 but the SA Supreme Court, civil jurisdiction, today awarded him $250,000 in interest.
Mr Trevorrow was 13 months old in 1957 when a neighbour drove him from his Coorong family home, south-east of Adelaide, to Adelaide's Children's Hospital with stomach pains.
Two weeks later, under the authority of the Aborigines Protection Board, he was given to a woman, who later became his foster parent, without the permission of his natural parents.
Lawyers for Mr Trevorrow then returned to court seeking 50 years of interest on the compensation payment.
The lawyers argued Mr Trevorrow should receive an extra $800,000 but the SA Supreme Court, civil jurisdiction, today awarded him $250,000 in interest.
Mr Trevorrow was 13 months old in 1957 when a neighbour drove him from his Coorong family home, south-east of Adelaide, to Adelaide's Children's Hospital with stomach pains.
Two weeks later, under the authority of the Aborigines Protection Board, he was given to a woman, who later became his foster parent, without the permission of his natural parents.
He did not see his family again for 10 years--- "
News.com.au article yesterday:
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