Broadcast on 2CH Sydney, Sunday 22 November 2009
9.00 am – Rudd’s apology to the ‘forgotten children’
On Tuesday, Australia was deeply moved when the Prime Minister formally apologised to the “forgotten children” – thousands of them, often neglected and abused, many of them shipped to Australia, it was said, “for their own good.”
But like that other Apology to the Stolen Generations, this Apology was not accompanied by formal words of forgiveness from victims. As Hugh Mackay says, “When an apology has been offered, forgiveness is the only authentic symbol of its acceptance.”
How does a victim forgive wrongs done long ago and far away, by other people? As they told their stories, and shed their tears, and as they assembled in person or in spirit in Canberra on Tuesday, those brave “forgotten Australians,” at the very least, demonstrated their capacity for forgiveness, and healing, and reconciliation.
They have been remembered; we must never forget. I’m Rod Benson for nswchurches.com
12.00 pm – This is no utopia, says Amnesty
Amnesty International Secretary General, Irene Khan, has been to Utopia, an Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory, and was “shocked” at the squalor she saw. The Federal Government has made impressive financial commitments, but must do more, she says, and must reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act.
In June 2007, the NSW Council of Churches observed that the Territory concerns were part of a national problem, and that legislative and punitive measures alone would not deliver morality to communities.
The Council continues to express concern at the slow pace of reform. When will the Intervention have done its job? Is it money well spent? When will the Rudd Government reinstate the Racial Discrimination Act? Will it intervene outside the Northern Territory to address Indigenous disadvantage, violence and abuse, and mismanagement?
There are dystopias in every state, even in the heart of Sydney. A better world is possible. I’m Rod Benson for nswchurches.com
5.00 pm – repeat of 9.00 am comment
