First payout deal for ‘stolen’ children
THE national debate on the “stolen generations” will be reignited today by the unveiling of the nation’s first compensation package for Aborigines taken from their parents under assimilation policies.
……under assimilation policies? I thought that every case that had been tested in court it was shown that the child was handed over to care with the consent of the parents who for a number of reasons couldn’t guarantee the welfare and livlihood of their child. What reaonably believable authority or inquiry ever proved that these kids were moved because of assimilation policies?
If i I sit here waiting for the announcement of the nation’s first compensation package for white children taken under care in similar circumstances should I hold my breath as well?
I think not.
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This will be a political farce, the only way they will find aboriginals to pay will be by completely ignoring rules of evidence – I expect it will come down to ‘sign a stat dec, get a bag of cash’.
A premier who thinks sponsoring a Victorian AFL team (to the tune of 15 million taxpayers dollars), with no evidence to suggest that it will bring a serious return to the state and now he is looking for another way to throw money away. Who knew Tasmania had that much cash to waste?
And people wonder why the Prime Minister has consistently refused to issue any statement that could ever be construed as as “apology” for anything connected to Aboriginal history in Australia.
Might as well start setting fire to bundles of $50 notes.
I have commented before on this website on Indigenous matters. I am one of the descendants of the so-called stolen generation. My private family research, (albeit intermittent and conducted over a long-ish period of time), suggests that at least in my own situation, the ‘steal’ was in fact a ‘rescue’. How many other people are in the same boat? Apart from the problem of who was ‘stolen’ and who was not, there is the major practical matter of who gets the loot. I personally feel that the whole compensation/reparations issue is an impediment to improving race relations in our country. Can you imagine a poor white Australian family (with origins for example in the 1916 Irish uprising in Dublin) seeking such a financial outcome from the Brits? (I have Irish ancestors on the other side of the family that went through this) – I don’t think so! This whole matter is illustrative of the ongoing welfare dependancy mentality of some of my Aboriginal kin. It is time that soft latte paternalism ends and that problems of social and economic inequality are addressed by the simple basics of work, enterprise, and mainstream participation in society. There is no reason why an Aboriginal person cannot be proudly in a mainstream job and at the same time participate in culture.
“Stolen Generation’?
Look to the High Court of Australia. Millions of dollars, thousands of hours of legal argument, thousands of pages of transcript, untold amount of collateral expenses. Outcome?
Oh, well, the High Court Judges are all racist old white men, what would they know. Let’s go for the International Courts, we don’t have to pay for it.
It turns out that they are just going to pay any aboriginal who was taken from their family – stolen or rescued, apparently its too hard to tell the difference so its just going to be a race based handout.
I can certainly see where this will not help race relations one bit.
Had I been taken from my (white) family, for abuse or neglect, I’d put in a claim for the cash and if it was denied I’d chase it in HREOC, its straight out racism.