Firstly, I was shocked to find just recently that PM Paul Keating actually did apologise to the Aboriginal communities over a decade ago. Was this supressed from media? Because having very limited recollection from my youth, surely something so significant would be televised and spoken about in Austrailian history class? I have the sneaky suspicion that it was kept silent to keep PK loking like a fool, which I am extremely upset about. Imagine, if the medai did that, how else are they controlling society, politics and history? Ethics thrown out the window. Of course I could be totally wrong, in which case I apologise for my ignorance in advance!

Secondly, I applaud Kaishu @ 11, the analogies are correct and decent.

Thirdly… now here is where I might cop abuse…. I am preparing myself for utter defeat.
I did have the speckling of an idea. There was mention about land tax…. why not have the government use that tax specifically on programmes for indigenous Australians. As a form of “we take and use your land and pay it back to you, like rent” sort of initiative. I am absolutely aware of my lack of understanding about tax schemes, and prepared for abuse on how I am wrong. I am only speaking in the “wouldn’t it be wonderful if” sense.

http://www.hayibo.com/articles/view/717

“Australia tells Aborigines the cheque is in the mail”

It would be interesting to see how the questions asked were worded, as I am struggling to find anybody who either supported the apology, and who is not hostile towards paying any form of compensation.

I did note on the day Sorry was said, a number of the Aboriginal leaders demanded compensation be paid, and that the Government was to set up a fund to enable automatic payments. If a fund was not set up, the Government was to instruct the courts to disregard any documentation on why children may have been removed as this documentation was all lies.

I, and my family have had limited experience with Aboriginal issues (my father , in association with Aboriginal communities designed housing for remote communities for the Federal and NT Governments during the early 80s - unfortunately the homes were trashed and stripped for fire wood, so neither Government was over enthusiastic about rebuilding). In the second case, our family brought up an Aboriginal lad who was brought to Melbourne for an education and to remove him from his drunken community. When educated, the lad would not permanently return to the community, and subsequently married a white girl.

In summary I would be interested in seeing the wording of the poll that shows support for the apology, and the demographics of of the poll. Who asked / what suburbs they lived in. I suspect that the majority of those polled were young, and from inner suburban areas.

Empathy is not a political parameter by the way.

Actually PM Rudd was quite smart as he stated his legal opinion advised that there would be minimal if any compensation claims against the commonwealth. He had to say this as 70+% of Australian did not agree with saying sorry if there was a chance of compensation claims. What the PM forgot to mention (kept everybody in the dark), was that the claims would be against the state Governments, except for claims from N.T..

The Commonwealth Government may have to compensate, the States for any compensation payments, but with the Reserve Bank (RBA) instructing Canberra to reduce their budgets by $10+ billion, the Aboriginals may find that the Indigenous Affairs budget may need to carry most of any payments. It would be a very stupid government to reduce say, the Health budget to reimburse the state treasury’s.

As for all the talk of further action, I suspect that the RBA will effectively keep the lid on Commonwealth spending, as well as a resource (doctors, nurses, teachers, tradesman etc.) shortage Australia wide, but any actions will take years to start after they go through numerous committees, working groups and project management planning phases.

Relatively few people have problems with a collective “we” being used to express the empathy sorry - “We are sorry to hear that you were treated so appallingly in the past”.

Any guilt sorry needs to be localised, or else it is worthless. “Sorry for the appalling way past governments have treated the first peoples of this land.” is a better wording. The problem is that it is not actually true, the appalling treatment continues. For example, the NSW government raised more than $2B in land tax in 2007, a tax for the privilege of owning lands stolen from the first peoples. Proceeds of crime?

The number of Australians who support the apology has leapt 13 points since the pre-apology poll, from 55% to 68%; the number of Australians who disagree has dramatically fallen 14 points from 36% to 22%.

More info - getup.org.au

On the other hand, is it enough to say “I have never harmed a single indigenous person”? Do we bear no responsibility if we stand by and do nothing while injustices continue to be committed?

The PM’s apology was essential and long overdue, but it’s just the start. Justice demands that there be proper compensation to the Stolen Generations, and logic demands that this be administered by a Tribunal rather than having to be fought through the courts. Indigenous communities also have the right to the same standard of housing, health care, education, job opportunities and economic independence that non-indigenous Australians take for granted. Until that happens, we are all complicit.

I accept responsibility for my part in this national failure, and I commit to doing what I can. Adam, will you join me?

When a sports team or person from Australia wins a match, often we say, “We won!” If I can take credit for Gilchrist’s batting, simply by virtue of having been born in the same country as him, should I not also take the blame for, say, some blackfellah kid being swiped off her mum?

Or consider the great tragedy of the Boxing Day Tsunami, and how millions of Australians reached into their pockets to donate, how our government at our behest set aside money for rebuilding - little Australia gave more than any other country in the world, both as private citizens and through our elected representatives. At that time I felt pride in being Australian, pride in our compassion and generosity.

Should I not have felt pride at that, at actions for which I was not personally responsible?

If I can feel pride in things for which I wasn’t personally responsible, why not shame?

As well, there is the simple fact that an apology is necessary for healing, whether it was our actions, deliberate or not. If I’m cooking and turn around in the kitchen and accidentally dong the missus on the head with the frypan, I am not actually responsible for the lump on her head. It was an accident, after all. But I had best say “sorry” if I want to be able to have a good relationship with her.

There’s a great division in this country between blackfellahs and the rest of the country. People often think of the economic division, of black poverty - but really, that’s the most trivial kind of division, because with a $17 billion surplus we could correct it overnight if we wanted to, that’s $150,00 or so for each person with at least one indigenous parent. The more important division is the social division.

At least in the US people can tell a plausible lie, “many of my best friends are black.” Blacks there are at least around enough that whites can befriend them if they wish. But blacks here in Australia are simply invisible unless they can kick a footy or run down a track. This invisibility, this social division, is a continuing cause of the economic and health problems they face.

Just as my apologising to my wife for accidentally knocking her on the head heals a division between us - or at least is a step towards healing - so too apologising to the indigenous people of Australia is a step towards ending the divisions between us. At last we recognise them as human beings, worthy of being treated with respect and compassion, being apologised to.

Of course some men don’t believe in apologising to their wives, either. And this is perhaps the reason that women initiate divorce more often than men…

Speak for yourselves. If you are responsible for serious crimes against people you should be jailed. Personally I have never harmed a single indigenous person and have no intention to.

What is harmful and destructive is people claiming responsibility for that which they have not done. You can not ask forgiveness and give an apology for something you have not done or responsible for. It makes a mockery of that wonderful human quality of remorse and forgiveness. Something the Green party, Rudd and co have no understanding of, obviously…..