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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 6 Hansard (17 June) . . Page.. 1617 ..

MR KAINE (continuing):

The question of what is reconciliation has been raised; but, of course, reconciliation is hard to define in a practical context. At the core, it is about creating effective relationships between people, between groups, between communities and corporations, between attitudes and social and spiritual values. Most of all, Mr Speaker, it is about giving the same respect to others that we expect from them. Mr Speaker, I believe that the passing of this motion is important in demonstrating the Government's and the Assembly's commitment to justice and a fair go for all. It acts as testimony to our intention, the Assembly's intention, to seek cooperation and reconciliation between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities of the Australian Capital Territory. It is an essential first step in the process of reconciliation in our community.

MR BERRY (11.47): Mr Speaker, I unreservedly apologise. I apologise as a member of this Assembly elected by the people of the Australian Capital Territory and I express the deepest personal regret about what has occurred in the past. I want to draw attention to one thing which elevated my understanding of these issues many years ago. I was reared in an area not far from where an atrocity was committed against the Aboriginal people in the Myall Lakes area, but I knew nothing about it. I apologise for those who kept that a secret from the community because it was a matter of great shame. Mr Speaker, my political party, the Australian Labor Party, has apologised to the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities for actions of past governments, and in particular the forced removal of Aboriginal children. Political parties have to apologise, as do all aspects of our culture, for those things that have occurred in the past. I repeat, Mr Speaker, that I unreservedly apologise.

Question resolved in the affirmative.

MS McRAE (11.49): Pursuant to order, I present the report of the Select Committee on Estimates 1997-98, together with the minutes of proceedings. This report was provided to the Speaker for circulation on Monday, 16 June 1997, pursuant to the resolution of the Assembly of 8 April 1997. I move:

That the report be noted.

This report has 12 recommendations, which came after a quite vigorous process of review by the committee of every aspect of Government activity. Some of the recommendations are fairly predictable. You can almost write them in advance, it seems to me, having followed the history of estimates committees. I think we are advancing slowly to a much better process of both scrutiny and budget paper demonstration of Government intent. We are grappling with a new system, without a year-on-year comparison, this being an early budget compared to the last, which was in September. We recommend, in terms of the papers themselves, that a little more assistance be provided yet again for committee members, although I must commend the officers who were involved, who attempted to reconcile some of the differences and make the differences more apparent to committee members and easier to follow.

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