* An apology not before time Paul Austin February 21, 2008 PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd and the Australian Parliament apologised to the Aboriginal stolen generations on February 13, 2008, and many Australians will never forget it. Premier Jeff Kennett and the Victorian Parliament apologised to the Aboriginal stolen generations on September 17, 1997, and many Victorians have already forgotten it. The fact that the Victorian Parliament was a decade ahead of the feds on this issue says something about the differences between those modern Liberal giants Jeff Kennett and John Howard. Kennett, like Howard, a favourite hate figure of the left, was in fact a social progressive of considerable achievement. Where Howard gave oxygen to Pauline Hanson and her infamous inaugural speech to Federal Parliament, Kennett condemned it and her. As Howard banished the word "multicultural" from his government, Kennett made himself the minister for multicultural affairs as well as premier. When the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission released its landmark Bringing Them Home report in May 1997 and called on all Australian parliaments to offer an apology to indigenous Australians, Howard rejected the recommendation. Kennett implemented it, and quickly. Unlike the Rudd apology, Kennett's didn't make much of a media splash (it rated a 250-word story on page six of The Age the following day). It seemed to be the obvious and just thing to do. Kennett received strong support from the then opposition leader, John Brumby, when he moved: "That this house apologise 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." Several speakers referred to the personal accounts in Bringing Them Home. The one that most affected Victorian MPs was Paul's story. It's easy to see why. For 18 years, until as recently as May 1982, the state of Victoria referred to Paul as state ward No. 54321. Born in May 1964, he lived with his mother in inner-suburban Melbourne. When he was 5½ months old, Paul and his mother became ill. When he got better, the Royal Children's Hospital persuaded his mother to admit him to St Gabriel's Babies Home in Balwyn, "just until Mum regained her health". But in early 1965 he was made a ward of the state. The official reason: "Mother is unable to provide adequate care for her son." In February 1967 the County Court dispensed with Paul's mother's consent to adoption, based on an "inability to locate mother". Paul told the Bringing Them Home inquiry that only paltry attempts had been made to find her. He was transferred to Blackburn South Cottages to be assessed for "suitable adoptive placement". His mother became a regular visitor, until one day she arrived to find an empty cot. "With a stroke of a pen, my mother's heart and spirit had been shattered," Paul recalled. "Repeated requests about my whereabouts were rejected. All her cries for help fell on deaf ears by a government who had stolen her son, and who had decided 'they' knew what was best for this so-called part-Aboriginal boy." In October 1967 Paul was adopted out. It lasted only seven months. The family rejected him and requested his removal, describing him as dull and unresponsive. A medical officer reported that Mrs A "finds his deficiencies an embarrassment, e.g. at coffee parties". Paul was sent to Gables Orphanage in Kew. Every fortnight for two years he was put in a line-up for viewing by prospective foster parents. He was always left behind. "My dark complexion was a problem." In January 1970 Paul was placed with another foster family, where he remained, deeply unhappy, for the rest of his childhood. "Throughout all these years - from 5½ months to 18 years of age - my mother never gave up trying to locate me," Paul said. She would send birthday and Christmas cards to her son, care of the welfare department. They were not sent on to Paul. "The state welfare department treated my mother like dirt, and with utter contempt, as if she never existed. The department rejected and scoffed at all my mother's cries and pleas for help. They inflicted a terrible pain of separation, anguish and grief upon a mother who only ever wanted her son back." In May 1982, at a welfare office in Sunshine, Paul was discharged from state wardship. He was given the letters, photos and cards from his mother, and informed that he had three brothers and a sister. The welfare officer wrote Paul's mother's address on a piece of paper. When Paul found her, she was working in a hostel for Aboriginal children, with 20 children under her care. She died six years later, aged 45. When the Federal Parliament delivered its apology last week, Kevin Rudd talked about the need now to "close the gap" between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, including the 17-year difference in life expectancy. When the Victorian Parliament delivered its apology last decade, John Brumby made similar comments, pledging to "work towards further improving the Aboriginal culture and story, and towards improving future opportunities for Aborigines". The State Government's latest Indigenous Affairs Report, tabled just before Christmas, shows that Aboriginal Victorians on average still die 17 years younger than the rest of us. Aboriginal Victorians are twice as likely as other Victorians to be unemployed, 11 times more likely to be abused as children, and 12 times more likely to be incarcerated as adults. A decade after Victoria apologised, there remains much unfinished business. Over to you, Mr Premier. Paul Austin is state political editor.
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