Page 243 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 2008
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(5) by this resolution seeks to take an important step in the healing process, which is fundamental to reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the non-indigenous members of the ACT community.
That was an historic day. I also remember very clearly that it was the only time members of the public have addressed the bar of the Assembly. We heard from members of the stolen generation. I do not think there was a person here, staff of the Assembly or members, who was not deeply moved by what was said there.
Today, yesterday and what happened 10 years ago is a very important milestone along the road that started 40 years ago when the first step was taken. On that occasion, on 27 May, a referendum was passed, with over 90 per cent of the people voting yes, which gave the commonwealth power to make laws for Indigenous people and for the first time allowed Indigenous people to be counted in the national census of this country. That is not all that long ago. It amazes me that it was only in 1967 that this country first accepted that Indigenous people should be counted in a national census.
I am pleased to see that we have moved on a lot from that day. But I remember that day clearly as a young person of 15. I can actually recall where I was. I think I must have appreciated the historical significance of that. I remember my parents coming home from voting, coming home to Narrabundah, after voting as part of that 90 per cent. Since then there have been a number of milestones, and today is another milestone for us here in the territory. It is a natural, right and proper extension of that very first historic step.
What occurred prior to that in their history is indeed abhorrent—people taken because of race. And we have heard many harrowing stories in relation to this. Mr Hargreaves mentioned the Rabbit proof fence. That was a movie I cried in. I found that particularly moving, particularly poignant and particularly relevant to saying sorry.
Even today there was something I did not realise. It was reported in the Canberra Times that Evonne Goolagong, one of the most brilliant tennis players this country has ever produced, as a little girl, would hide under the bed because of a fear of being taken. These are poignant stories, I think, which bring home to us all the abhorrent nature of what occurred. Indeed, no child should be taken from their parent unless it clearly is for their own safety, and certainly no child should ever be taken for racial reasons. Indeed, as a couple of speakers have mentioned, our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers have been caring for their families most successfully for 40,000 years, and that is probably more than any other people who live on this earth.
I remember also some of the Aboriginal people I have known and some of the trials and tribulations they have suffered. I was honoured to have as a family friend the late Captain Reg Saunders who lived a street down from where we lived in Narrabundah. Reg is quite famous. My mum was very friendly with his mother. His son and daughter went to Narrabundah with me, albeit in different years.
The Reg Saunders story, I think, is very poignant in terms of the discrimination suffered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders not all that long ago. Reg was a war hero. He and his brother joined the Australian army in World War II. He was
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