Page 238 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 2008
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confuse this debate are doing a disservice to the sentiments that stand behind the very important decision that has been taken nationally and that will be taken today in this legislature. In endorsing these apologies on behalf of the legislature, it is very important that we not allow people to confuse this with some issue of guilt in relation to current generations of Australians.
It is important that we look to the future as well as dwelling on the past. There are a great many challenges that we have to face here and now and a great many challenges that we will have to face in the future. It is well known that there are ongoing problems with Aboriginal health and that there are also ongoing problems of violence and lawlessness in some Aboriginal communities, particularly the communities in the Northern Territory that have become the subject of so much discussion in the last few years. These are the problems that have to be faced if we are interested in more than just acts of conspicuous compassion.
While symbolic statements are important in showing the philosophical outlook of the parliament, we must ensure that we also engage in discussions of substance about the real problems affecting Aboriginal people today. If we do not have that—I am not often inclined to quote journalists in this place, but I recall hearing Jack Waterford say this on the radio this week—then, without these other elements, these initiatives can often be simply an empty or a hollow gesture.
I am not one who is advocating that the answer to every problem is a large amount of cash. What I do want to see in this country, though, is less talk and more results in terms of improving the life expectancy of Aboriginal people. An Aboriginal male person is expected to live 17 years less than a non-Aboriginal member of our community. It is a scandalous state of affairs that that occurs in this country in 2008. These are issues that, as a young political activist, I remember we were talking about it in 1970—38 years ago. We cannot let this situation continue for another generation and say, “Well, we tried this and we tried that.” This is a challenge for governments; it is a challenge for all of us to actually put some real meaning behind gestures such as the one we are embarking on today.
I have had a long interest in matters affecting the Aboriginal community, despite growing up in the state of Tasmania, where knowledge of the needs of that community was pretty well unknown when I was a young person. One of the most profound experiences I have had was 28 years ago when I worked for the Premier of Victoria. We had a reception for leaders of the Aboriginal community. I heard two people whispering behind me, “Don’t drink any alcohol; they’ll think we’re drunk.” I have never forgotten those words. I thought, “Imagine going through life with that level of pressure even in a pleasant social setting.”
I have been to Arnhem Land to talk to leaders of the Aboriginal community about alcohol problems. I did it without fanfare and without any recognition. There were no taxpayer funds involved. I have seen at first hand some of the devastating impacts that have occurred, particularly in relation to alcohol. Decades later, we still see many of the same problems affecting those communities. We have many experts who do not understand the concerns in those communities but who are proclaiming from Canberra what is best.
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