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Stolen Generations Apology Twenty-Fifth Anniversary

Published on: June 2022

Record: HANSARD-1323879322-125519

Stolen Generations Apology Twenty-Fifth Anniversary

Debate resumed from 7 June 2022.

Mr JAMES GRIFFIN (ManlyMinister for Environment and Heritage) (10:22:44):

— On 18 June 1997 this House apologised to the Aboriginal people of Australia for the systematic separation of generations of Aboriginal children from their parents, their families and their communities. Twenty-five years later, we are reflecting on this apology and reaffirming our commitment to reconciliation in New South Wales. This is about acknowledging wrongs, making amends and showing our respect and appreciation for the rich history and precious natural places of this land we all call home. It is critical that we continue to forge ahead with the commitments made following Mr Carr's apology in 1997. Whilst we have come a long way, there is still much more to be done.

As the Minister responsible for national parks, I understand the vital role that national parks have in providing Aboriginal people with connection to country and in delivering cultural, social, health and economic benefits to communities. New South Wales national parks contain Aboriginal sites, places and objects of exceptional significance, ranging from small ceremonial sites to iconic landmarks like the Three Sisters. These important cultural sites are protected and cared for by the National Parks and Wildlife Service in partnerships with Aboriginal people, many of these through the Aboriginal joint management program. Aboriginal joint management fosters self-determination for Aboriginal people by increasing their opportunities to make decisions and provide advice about how land is managed and embodies the New South Wales Government's commitment to closing the gap. There are now 33 joint management agreements, covering over one third of the national park estate.

This Government is committed to expanding Aboriginal joint management opportunities. Since 2019 there has been an expansion of the Aboriginal-owned lands at Mount Grenfell Historic Site. In April this year Bulagaranda Aboriginal Area was handed back to the Anaiwan people, who will now manage that precious place in partnership with the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The Government is also commencing the historic transfer of Me-Mel to the Aboriginal community. This unique island in Sydney Harbour has important Aboriginal, historical and natural heritage value. In May this Government committed $42.9 million to support the transfer. The transfer will provide outcomes and opportunities for Aboriginal people, as well as an important connection to country and culture as a cherished Aboriginal site.

Joint management also provides social and economic outcomes for Aboriginal people, such as employment, contracts for Aboriginal-owned businesses, statewide networking and a role in influencing government policies and laws about national park and cultural heritage management in national parks. Today there are over 220 Aboriginal members of joint management boards and committees, and approximately 11 per cent of National Parks and Wildlife Service employees identify as Aboriginal.

New South Wales has more than 60,000 years of rich Aboriginal cultural heritage. I am deeply committed to the management, protection, repatriation and conservation of this heritage. Heritage NSW's Aboriginal cultural heritage conservation and programs, and recognition of Aboriginal places continue to help us learn and ensure that we do not repeat the wrongs of the past. There are 141 declared Aboriginal places in New South Wales, and I am proud to have made three of these declarations in the time that I have been Minister.

It is vital that we recognise the uncomfortable truths and traumas of the past so that we can both learn from them and acknowledge suffering. The Heritage Council of NSW has identified frontier conflict as one of two priorities for listing items on the State Heritage Register from 2021 to 2025, in recognition of the need for truth‑telling within New South Wales' history and heritage. This Government recognises Aboriginal cultural heritage as fundamental to and inseparable from the history, heritage and natural landscape of New South Wales. I hope that we can continue to move towards a place of deep respect and shared commitment to the ongoing protection and conservation of the complex and profound places, objects, stories and traditions of the oldest culture in the world.

Mr TIM CRAKANTHORP (Newcastle) (10:27:31):

Today I am speaking from the land of the Gadigal people, which is part of the Eora nation. As the member for Newcastle, my electorate spans the lands of the Awabakal and Worimi peoples. I pay tribute to Elders and members of these communities. I have been privileged to meet passionate and powerful Aboriginal people who are striving locally for better outcomes—people such as proud Wiradjuri man Nathan Towney, who has been a leader in high school and tertiary education; proud Wiradjuri woman and lawyer Taylah Gray, who fights every day for her people; and proud Worimi man Professor Kelvin Kong, who is Australia's first Aboriginal surgeon. Today we speak on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the apology to the Stolen Generations, when a motion came through this Parliament. That motion read:

That this House, on behalf of the people of New South Wales:

(1)apologises unreservedly to the Aboriginal people of Australia for the systematic separation of generations of Aboriginal children from their parents, families and communities;

(2)acknowledges and regrets Parliament’s role in enacting laws and endorsing policies of successive governments whereby profound grief and loss have been inflicted upon Aboriginal Australians;

(3)calls upon all Australian governments to respond with compassion, understanding and justice to the report of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission entitled "Bringing them home"; and

(4)reaffirms its commitment to the goals and process of reconciliation in New South Wales and throughout Australia.

That motion went through this Parliament some 25 years ago, but the journey to reconciliation is not over. Members of the Stolen Generation survived emotional, physical and sexual abuse. They survived separation from family and separation from culture. They continue to survive the lifelong effects of this trauma and the severe mental health impacts that it created. But this does not end with them. The effects of intergenerational trauma are being laid before us every single day. We see it in continuing poorer health outcomes when compared to the wider community. We see it in the fewer education and training opportunities and the lower life expectancy. We see it in the wildly high rates of incarceration. First Nations people are still fighting to have their voices heard. I thank former Premier Bob Carr for leading the way in acknowledgement and apologies from Australia's Parliaments. That was only the start. We still have a lot of work to do.

Mrs MELINDA PAVEY (Oxley) (10:30:42):

When New South Wales surveyor Hodgkinson toured the mid North Coast of New South Wales in the 1850s, he wrote, "I think that all endeavours to make them adopt more settled habits will be useless, for what great inducement does the monotonous and toilsome existence of the labouring classes in civilised communities offer to make the Indigenous people abandon their independent and careless life, diversified by the exciting occupations of hunting, fighting, and dancing." I think this sums up life before white man arrived. It is a reflection of the beauty and natural elements that favour the wonderful life that the mid North Coast of New South Wales provides. I raise this because of the incredible address yesterday by James Michael Widdy Welsh, who was a resident of the Kinchela Boys Home.

Kinchela Boys Home is about 20 kilometres from Kempsey on the banks of the mighty Macleay River. You wonder about the pain, the dispossession and the sadness that was the existence of many Indigenous people since white settlement, and that sadness still exists today. But we saw healing from James, as he is in the court system, Michael as he was at Kinchela and Widdy as he is with his people. He talked about how the recognition of the Stolen Generations and the motion moved by Bob Carr 25 years ago was incredibly important to his healing. I respect that, but I also represent the electorate of Oxley, where Kinchela boys home is. I also accept the comments from the Premier that there are many who worry that the moments of sorry, the moments of reflection or the symbolism will not fix the problems that still exist. I would not be true to myself, to my electorate or to my communities if I did not acknowledge that there is still so much healing, so much pain and too many children not with their families because of an ingrained cycle of poverty and drug and alcohol obsession that we still need to come to terms with.

Still our incarceration rates are too high. The number of children taken is too high. Our education results are not what they should be, and not what all members of the community want. We have to strive and be honest with ourselves—all of us need to be honest with ourselves—about how we fix the families. James Michael Widdy Welsh said that yesterday. Putting people into the families before we tear those families apart is at the heart of fixing many of the problems. I am going to call it out. I am going to say that agencies, whether it is the Department of Education, the Ministry of Health or the Department of Communities and Justice, need to stop acting in silos, and public servants need to come together and respect what our communities are saying. We need to put resources back into individual homes. We need to use midwives as a beacon to give us examples of those families where the struggles are going to be most felt and then, off the back of the advice from midwives, put resources into those homes. That is just common sense. That needs to be what drives government policy to get the outcomes that we need.

We also need to face the facts and the truth. There is a problem in Kempsey, and it is a strong problem. There is a belief that the population of Kempsey voted against recognition in the Constitution in 1967. It was not one of the best votes by far, but the majority—nearly 70 per cent of that community—voted for Aboriginal recognition in the Constitution. I note the presence of the member for Maroubra, whose family hails from that town. I think he would agree that that pain is still there, and we need to work together to fix it because everybody wants it fixed. I also acknowledge the contribution from Bob Carr at the lunch where he said that having George Souris, the leader of the National Party at that time, walk with him on the Sydney Harbour Bridge was very important symbolism for regional New South Wales. We want things to be better. Yesterday's commemoration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the sorry moment was a very important part, but we all need to work together with common sense and outcomes in policy so that we can be prouder of our education results, our average death age results and our educational outcomes.

Mr MICHAEL DALEY (Maroubra) (10:36:30):

I am proud to make a contribution to debate on this motion, which commemorates the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Parliament of New South Wales apology to the Stolen Generations. I do so acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and the Bidjigal people, who are the people from La Perouse. I said in my very first speech to the Parliament in 2005 that I was very proud—and still am—that in my electorate the community of La Perouse is a place where original families who have an unbroken connection to the land still reside, and they are a great community. This Chamber heard from Uncle James Michael Widdy Welsh, Aunty Lorraine Peeters and Uncle Richard Dawes, who walked onto the floor of this Parliament, in what is a rare occurrence, to tell us about their thoughts on being survivors of the Stolen Generation. You can read all you want about the Stolen Generation and the things that have been done to First Nations people, but when you sit and listen in silence and look at the pain that is etched in those people's faces and hear the pain that emanates from their voices, it is powerful. There were tears in this place when they spoke, as there should have been, and mine were among them.

When I listened to those people, I thought of my life and the upbringing that I had with my mum and dad in a loving family. They made me. I think of my kids and tucking them into bed every night. Then, you imagine in the dark of night someone kicking the door in and taking your kids away. You picture one of them walking home from school and being kidnapped. That is what happened to these young people. Uncle Richard Dawes told us that when he was walking along Silverdale Road on his way home from school, a car pulled up and kidnapped him. It took him decades to find his mum and brothers and sisters again. This is unacceptable. It is just mind‑boggling that this stuff happened in a modern nation. But this was institutional, it was deliberate and it was based on a desire to de-Aboriginalise these children.

We have built a wonderful country, but we have to admit that these things sit alongside the admirable things we have done in our history. The damage to these people has been profound beyond belief. It cannot be restored, but we can do our best to heal. When these survivors tell their stories over and over again—remarkably without anger—one thing that comes out powerfully is the crucial importance of truth-telling. You cannot have healing without understanding. You cannot have understanding without empathy. You cannot have empathy without knowledge about what really happened to these people. We should not sit around and flagellate ourselves as a nation, because we have built a good nation. But the survivors stress that we must acknowledge that they cannot properly heal and we cannot properly reconcile unless the truth is told.

First Australians

The truth is still not being taught. The victors are great at erasing history. The truth is not being taught in schools as it should be, in my view. There are still too many grown-ups—if you want to put it that way—who do not know or do not really want to know what happened. I say to all of them to take a little time to learn about what really happened. There are many simple ways to do that. At the moment SBS On Demand is showing a documentary series called . Those who watch it will be astounded to see what we did to our First Nations people and the destruction that they suffered. Many people thought our First Nations people would die out as a race, but they did not. They are still here, they are still alive and they are still proud. I am wishing and willing that we all move forward together on this healing journey.

Mr GREG PIPER (Lake Macquarie) (10:41:17):

I acknowledge that we meet today on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. I also acknowledge that I represent a community that is founded on the traditional lands of the Awabakal people. I pay tribute to those Aboriginal people and their Elders past, present and emerging. To have a future where we embrace, respect and celebrate our differences, we must first acknowledge our indifferent past. If we long for a future in which we embrace all Australians, we must embrace the very first Australians—those who occupied these lands for thousands of years, those whose culture we should celebrate and whose culture was brutally affronted and systematically attacked when European settlement came to the shores of what is now New South Wales.

Let there be no doubt that 25 years ago we truly began moving forward by acknowledging and apologising for one of the very darkest moments of our history. Twenty-five years ago the New South Wales Government, through Bob Carr, apologised to the Aboriginal people of New South Wales for the forced removal of their children over generations. Since then we have taken steps, although not always big ones, in the right direction towards what I would call a proper reconciliation, a proper acknowledgment of where we have been, of what happened and of where we truly want to be as Australians. I am not certain when I first heard the term Stolen Generation, but it was a long time ago and then only because brave parents, siblings and community members decades ago said enough was enough and that taking their children was not in any way acceptable.

Sometime later, during the time that I was Mayor of Lake Macquarie, I met Gary and Brenda Simon, or Uncle Gary and Aunty Brenda as they became known to me. I share a little of their story. In 1971 they lived in Gilgandra with their seven children. On the day that government officials came knocking, Gary was away working. He was building the nation, on the railways as I recall. They loved their children as much as we all love our own, and Gary worked hard to provide for his family. All seven children were taken away on that day in 1971. They were aged between one and eight. Gary and Brenda spent the next four years in court fighting to get them back. Aunty Brenda recalled:

They said that they had to take them now and not wait for my husband to come home. I didn't know what to do.

Newcastle Herald

During those four years Gary and Brenda moved to Blackalls Park in my electorate. By 1975 the children began returning home one at a time and for the first time met a new brother. Gary and Brenda were never told where their children were or who they were with. Brenda would later tell the :

We couldn't write to them and tell them that we were still here and we loved them and think the world of them and that one day we'd all be back together.

It later emerged that the children were regularly moved to different homes over the four years they spent away from their parents and were most often separated from each other. Marie, one of the children, was five when she was taken. She still tells the story of how she was forced to take the surnames of the white families she was placed with. She recalled:

We were lucky when we eventually came back together, because I know others came back and their mother and father had died.

Marie's sister, April, recalled that she was eight when taken away from her family. When she was reunited after a four-year separation, she had to be reintroduced to her parents and siblings because she did not recognise them. Her younger sister, Lacey, did not even know the names of her parents and siblings. Some years later Uncle Gary became a pastor. He and Brenda never surrendered in their fight for their children. They never surrendered their hope. The impacts of those years will never be erased. It takes more than a "sorry" to heal those wounds. It is for those reasons and my understanding of those stories that I agreed to bring to this House on behalf of the former member of the upper House Mr David Shoebridge the Family is Culture review bill. I hope that as we go forward, members in this Parliament can deal with the issue, because we need to address the tragedy that occurred in the past and unfortunately continues to occur.

Mrs MELINDA PAVEY (Oxley) (10:46:36):

I acknowledge the contribution of the member for Lake Macquarie. I also acknowledge in the public gallery today the former Mayor of Orange, Reg Kidd. It is appropriate to highlight that Reg showed leadership in his community when I was the Minister responsible for Crown lands. We created the first Aboriginal land use agreement, sorting out hundreds of Aboriginal land claims in Orange and coming to a decision that benefited the community and the Aboriginal land council, which effectively gives 80 hectares of land in the heart of Orange to the Aboriginal community. It is wonderful to have Reg Kidd in the Chamber today.

Ms FELICITY WILSON (North Shore) (10:47:26):

Every day when we enter this place we acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation, and acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands we each represent. For me, that is the Cammeraygal people. The Cammeraygal area of the Eora nation was known to be women's country. Obviously, many people would know Barangaroo as a leading Cammeraygal woman of her time and as well as now, looking back in history. It is fitting for us to have this conversation at a time when we have renewed understanding of Indigenous history and our First Nations people across Australia. It highlights to us that we need to increase our empathy and our understanding of more of the modern history of our First Nations brothers and sisters.

For me, that is what this 25-year anniversary of the New South Wales apology to the Aboriginal people of Australia for what was systemic separation of generations of Aboriginal children from their parents, families, communities and country is all about. It is usually members who speak in this place. Instead, yesterday we had a profound opportunity to hear other people's voices. Uncle Michael, Aunty Lorraine and Uncle Richard shared personal, deep and challenging stories and pushed us to do better and be better. The fundamental principles that came through in their contributions to us were that reconciliation requires truth‑telling and that healing requires truth‑telling and listening to survivor-led initiatives and ideas. We did that yesterday, but we need to do it every day and we need to recommit ourselves to do better.

I acknowledge that, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Australia's colonial history is characterised by devastating land dispossession, violence and racism. Over the last half century, however, many significant steps towards reconciliation have been taken. But, as we have been reminded yet again, reconciliation is an ongoing journey. While generations of Australians have fought hard for meaningful change, future gains are likely to require just as much, if not more, effort. Today I reaffirm my own unreserved apologies to all Aboriginal people across New South Wales and Australia for the systemic injustices of separating Aboriginal children from their parents, families, communities and country.

I express my sorrow and sincerely apologise for the intergenerational trauma and the deep-seated agony that those policies and laws have inflicted onto many generations of Aboriginal people in our State, which still today have ripple effects for individuals and communities. Uncle Michael spoke about that so eloquently yesterday. We reiterate our continued commitment in a bipartisan fashion to effective reconciliation in New South Wales and to supporting the implementation of the Government's response to Unfinished Business by working in direct partnership with Stolen Generations survivors: the Elders, aunts and uncles. We will also continue to work closely with the Stolen Generation Advisory Committee organisations: the Kinchela Boys Home Aboriginal Corporation, the Coota Girls Aboriginal Corporation, the Children of the Bomaderry Aboriginal Children's Home Incorporated and the Stolen Generations Council NSW/ACT.

Yesterday we heard an acknowledgement of the impacts on Aboriginal and First Nations people today of the actions that were taken during the Stolen Generations. It was most profound for me when Uncle Michael spoke about his own reaction and the decades it took for him to even understand that he was living through trauma. He spoke about how he dealt with trauma he did not know existed through violence, aggression, not speaking and closing up and how that impacted his own children and his behaviour—his fleeing home, not feeling safe and not feeling as though he had a safe environment for his children.

That still happens to Indigenous people across New South Wales today. It is not good enough. We need to do more. I acknowledge what the member for Oxley, who lives and breathes this every day in her community, said: We need to do better, particularly around education, incarceration, health outcomes and addiction. We need to acknowledge the link to the intergenerational trauma that creates those outcomes and that does not create the opportunities that those families, individuals and children deserve. I commit to doing what Uncle Michael said and working always to heal families first and ensure that children are no longer taken from their communities.

Mr GUY ZANGARI (Fairfield) (10:52:41):

I contribute to debate on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the apology to the Stolen Generations. Each year Australians commemorate National Sorry Day, a day in which we acknowledge and remember the forcible removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, known as the Stolen Generations, from their communities. On this day we action remorse and healing towards Indigenous communities, families and individuals. We acknowledge the trauma and loss that the Stolen Generations experienced from their mistreatment, which still impacts them today. We also take the time to respect and admire the resilience and courage of the Stolen Generations survivors and to think about how we can contribute to the healing process.

The government laws and policies that dictated the removal of those children are a sad part of our judicial history and reflect a period of injustice and trauma for our Indigenous brothers and sisters that has never left them. Those laws and policies were formulated in an attempt to assimilate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children into a mainly white community. The Bringing Them Home report of 1997 outlined the magnitude of the forced removals between 1910 and the 1970s. On 18 June 1997, in response to the Bringing Them Home report, former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr formally apologised to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of New South Wales for the past implementation of policies that led to the removal of Aboriginal children from their families. It was the first response from a State government to the report. The motion read as follows:

I move:

That this House, on behalf of the people of New South Wales:

(1)apologises unreservedly to the Aboriginal people of Australia for the systematic separation of generations of Aboriginal children from their parents, families and communities;

(2)acknowledges and regrets Parliament's role in enacting laws and endorsing policies of successive governments whereby profound grief and loss have been inflicted upon Aboriginal Australians;

Bringing them home

(3)calls upon all Australian Governments to respond with compassion, understanding and justice to the report of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission entitled ; and

(4)reaffirms its commitment to the goals and processes of reconciliation in New South Wales and throughout Australia.

Needless to say, it was passed without dissent. Stolen Generation survivors remain some of the most vulnerable people in our wider community and suffer lasting trauma. In fact, their trauma is of such magnitude that they were reluctant to speak of their stories and experiences for many years. However, the sharing of their stories has brought a greater understanding of what it was to be a Stolen Generation survivor and how we as Australians can join and contribute to the healing process and carry it into the future. As the Hon. Bob Carr stated, "The lost generations of the stolen children have been given a voice at long last." Loss of family, culture and identity are common themes and we cannot help but feel empathy and sadness for the survivors of such trauma. Their experiences must be acknowledged. We must be accountable; there must be compensation for such mistreatment. It is the very least we can do as Australians. In his words to this Parliament, the Hon. Bob Carr referred to a statement from Link‑Up, an organisation which reunited Aboriginal families throughout New South Wales and Australia, that moved me in particular:

We may go home, but we cannot relive our childhoods. We may reunite with our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, aunties, uncles, communities but we cannot relive the 20, 30, 40 years that we spent without their love and care, and they cannot undo the grief and mourning they felt when we were separated from them. We can go home to ourselves as Aboriginals, but this does not erase the attacks inflicted on our hearts, minds, bodies and souls, by caretakers who thought their mission was to eliminate us as Aboriginals.

These raw, unfiltered words of pain are hard to listen to but must be acknowledged if ever there is a chance of restitution and true reconciliation. As a nation, we have made progress but it cannot stop there. We need to achieve so much more. Moving forward, it is incumbent upon all Australians to continue to strive towards true reconciliation and to building meaningful and respectful relationships with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community in unity, equality and treaty.

Mr JUSTIN CLANCY (Albury) (10:57:40):

I begin by acknowledging members of the Stolen Generations and their families, and all First Nations people who have been present over the past few days in this place. Aunty Lorraine, who spoke in the Chamber yesterday, clearly reminded everyone of the ongoing significance of the apology to the Stolen Generations. She said:

You are just recycling the trauma and contributing to intergenerational trauma … It needs to stop. We need to break the cycle and continue to close the gap.

She called on us to embrace truth, healing and trauma‑informed care. Uncle Michael also spoke movingly and powerfully. His experience was that he was removed from his mother at the age of eight and that his eldest son suffered the same fate many years later. I acknowledge Uncle Richard, who spoke from the heart too. I thank all the speakers for their truth, courage and leadership. Survivors of the Stolen Generations tell us of ongoing trauma. To this day, that trauma is fresh and sends waves of pain across the nation. For me, those lived experiences powerfully illuminate the twenty-fifth anniversary of then Premier Bob Carr's apology on behalf of the New South Wales Government. In doing so at that time, he spoke with bipartisan support from the then Opposition leader, Peter Collins. It was not an occasion for politics then, and it should never build a barrier between us. That was a landmark moment for our State and was the nation's first such apology.

Our Premier has already acknowledged the role that government plays in the ongoing pain felt most deeply by Indigenous people. As leader of this Government, the Premier said that pursuing equality was his priority. I draw truth from the Premier's words yesterday. Today the gap in basic living stands that First Nations people endure remains completely unacceptable. We must act with urgency to secure all Indigenous Australians true equality and true economic, social and political opportunity. The Premier has reaffirmed our sorrow in Parliament on this quarter-century anniversary, and with those words came a commitment to provide funding of $15.3 million over four years to establish memorials at former children's homes. Stolen Generations survivors will use those memorials to record, preserve and share their stories so that all may benefit, and remember what transpired and the reality of the pain and trauma still felt so keenly today. I hope visitors to those cultural memorials will gain or regain courage to ensure survivors' needs are being met and mistakes are not endlessly repeated.

I particularly acknowledge the Indigenous nation in my own community, the Wiradjuri, on whose land the Albury community live, and other First Nations. It is my deep privilege to be able to walk and yarn with them and to be given the opportunity to listen, to learn and to gain glimpses of their experiences on their long and often painful journeys. I am thankful for those most valued and heartfelt opportunities. The wounds are real, and the process of healing is essential to the wellbeing and progress of our State and of our nation.

Business interrupted.