Australian Prime Minister Rudd says sorry to Aborigines’ stolen generations

Here we go again: another grand empty gesture by a Head of State. This time Australia’s newly elected PM apologises to the country’s downtrodden Aboriginal people for their past mistreatment. Symbolic as it may be, Kevin Rudd’s apology is nothing more than a box-ticking exercise; a pending item in his populist election manifesto. While his predecessor already issued a ‘statement of regret’ on the matter, Rudd had an electoral promise to fulfil. Now that it’s done, the question remains: so what?

Evidence shows that Aboriginal people continue to live at the margins of Australian society today. In line with similarly displaced communities, Aboriginals experience high levels of unemployment, illiteracy, ill-health, discrimination and social exclusion; not to mention alcoholism, drug addiction and imprisonment. However, whereas other countries such as New Zealand and Canada have managed to narrow the gap in life expectancy between their non-indigenous and indigenous people to about seven years; Australia still struggles with this particular challenge. With an average male life expectancy of 56 years, Australia’s Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders die nearly 20 years younger than most Australians. The quality of their short lives is also considerably lower.

Instead of apologising for the misdeeds of his forebears, in which he played no part, the new Australian PM should be asking himself what has his generation done to remedy this shameful situation.  Why are Aboriginal people still considered second class citizens? Why are they not represented in Parliament yet? And what is his administration going to do about it all? Though the PM’s words may go some way towards alleviating the pain of those who suffered at the hands of state institutions and policies, it is his decision to rule out financial reparations for this tiny Australian minority that speaks volumes. Unless Rudd’s apology is followed by a long-term social investment programme that tackles the many intractable problems affecting his country’s Aboriginal community, it will mean very little to them and even less to their children. So much for grand empty gestures.

Dr Krishna Sarda (Hon) FRSA

CEO

Ethnic Minority Foundation