Bringing-Them-Home-Report-Web

There would be few Aboriginal people beyond school age who were not raised without thethreat, if not the actuality of family dislocation. It will take decades yet before theconsequences of these policies are worked through.The consequences of past mistakes are carried from generation to generation. Reconciliationappropriately involves an honest acknowledgment of the impact of colonisation, bothhistorically and up to the current day (quoted by Aboriginal Legal Rights Movementsubmission 484 on page 48).In its submission to the Inquiry, the Tasmanian Government stated that it,… recognises that past legislation, practices and policies have adversely affected Aboriginalpeople. This has had implications to Aboriginal people in Tasmania over successivegenerations (final submission page i).The Queensland Government submitted,The extent of government control over the lives of the indigenous people of the State thatoccurred in the past, and the associated high degree of government and institutionalinterference with indigenous family life, have had wide-ranging and often tragic impacts onAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Queensland over successive generations.Many of those policies and practices, and the beliefs that engendered them, are not acceptabletoday (interim submission page 2).The Victorian Government submitted,The Government has acknowledged before the Commissioner, that the early history of childwelfare in Victoria is hallmarked by policies and practices which evolved in accordance withthe views of the Victorian community of that time. Many of these approaches to child welfarewould be unacceptable today (final submission page 3).On 14 November 1996, New South Wales Premier Bob Carr, in a speech onreconciliation in the Legislative Assembly, stated that removals were ‘done in thename of the State and in the name of this Parliament’.That is why, Mr Speaker, I re-affirm in this place, formally and solemnly as Premier, onbehalf of the government and people of New South Wales, our apology to Aboriginal people.And I invite the House to join with me in that apology, and in doing so, acknowledge, withdeep regret Parliament’s own role in endorsing policies and actions of successivegovernments which devastated Aboriginal communities and inflicted, and continues to inflict,grief and suffering upon Aboriginal families and communities.I extend this apology as an essential step in the process of reconciliation.Acknowledgment and apology – Parliaments and police forcesRecommendation 5a:That all Australian Parliaments