Australia Apologizes to Aborigines

Australia apologizes for Aborigines' pain

NEW: PM Kevin Rudd apologizes to thousands of Aborigines
NEW: Rudd: "For the indignity and degradation on a proud people we say sorry"
NEW: Apology included plans to improve education, healthcare for Aborgine children
"I hope this will be a new start -- a new way," says Mike Williams, an Aborigine

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- The Australian government apologized Wednesday for years of "mistreatment" that inflicted "profound grief, suffering and loss" on the country's Aboriginal people.

New Prime Minister Kevin Rudd read the apology Wednesday to Aborigines and the "Stolen Generations" of children who were taken from their families.

"To the mothers and fathers, to the brothers and sisters we say sorry. And for the indignity and degradation on a proud people and a proud culture we say sorry."

For 60 years, until 1970, the Australian government took mixed-race Aboriginal children from their families and put them in dormitories or industrial schools, claiming it was protecting them.

As a result of the policy, "stolen" children lost contact with their families and heritage, received poor education, lived in harsh conditions, and often endured abuse.

"There is nothing I can say today that will take away the pain... Words are not that powerful," Rudd said in the Australian Parliament. Watch Rudd apologize »

He said that the apology was the start of a new approach towards Aborigines which included helping them find their lost families, closing pay gaps and a 17-year difference in life expectancy between Aborigines and white Australians.

He said new policies would be introduced to provide better healthcare and education to Aborigines.

"The mood of the nation is for reconciliation now," Rudd said.

The policy was largely a secret until a decade ago, when a government inquiry and high-profile movie exposed it. That sparked a mass movement, supported by many white Australians, demanding an apology.

Former Prime Minister John Howard refused to offer an apology, saying the current generation should not be held accountable for past misdeeds. He instead issued a statement of regret.

Rudd, who defeated Howard last November, made an apology part of his election campaign. Howard's successor as leader of the Liberal Party, Brendan Nelson, supported the apology Wednesday.

"The apology ... is ... very much just the first step," said a spokeswoman for Jenny Macklin, the minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

"We have serious inequalities between indigenous and nonindigenous Australians. The apology is symbolic, but there's a lot of hard work to be done to reverse those inequalities."

Mary Farrell-Hooker counts herself among the Stolen Generations and is now a spokeswoman for an Aboriginal activist group. The Stolen Generation became Australia's controversy

She is of mixed race and was one of 12 children of alcoholic parents. Her father was in jail for raping her sister when her mother was hospitalized after a suicide attempt.

"The police came to the school and told me they were taking me to the hospital to see my mom," Farrell-Hooker told CNN. "We never went to the hospital."

Instead, Mary, then 12, was taken to a series of foster centers. At one of them, she said, she was repeatedly raped by a white "house father."

"He would actually come into the room and force himself onto me, rape me, molest me," she said.
"If I didn't do what he wanted, he would threaten to do the same to my sister and (threaten to) split us up."

Her parents came to find her, she said, but were repeatedly turned away. She tried to run away but said the police always returned her to her tormentor.

Aboriginal people have been waiting decades for an apology, and the Australian public appear to welcome the government's move, according to CNN's Jacqueline Head in Sydney.

Head said many Australians believe saying sorry is long overdue, but some doubts remain over what it will achieve in the long term -- whether it will help open doors for Aboriginal people seeking rights and compensation or whether it will fail to secure indigenous people a better future.

Some white Australians don't believe the apology will bring about reconciliation.

"I think Australians will be sorry for many generations for offering this apology now," said Piers Akerman, a conservative commentator.

He said Aboriginal compensation claims will now gain new vigor.

To symbolize what the government hopes will be a fresh approach to the future, a group of indigenous Australians performed a traditional welcome ceremony Tuesday of dancing and singing to mark the start of parliament's new session. As the traditional owners of the land which parliament sits on, the performers "welcomed" the lawmakers onto it.

"For thousands of years, our peoples have observed this protocol," said Matilda House, an Aboriginal elder at the ceremony. "It is a good and honest and decent and very human act to reach out to make sure everyone has a place and is welcome."

CNN's Jacqueline Head and Hugh Riminton contributed to this report

All About Kevin Rudd • John Howard

Full text of Australia's apology to Aborigines

Bush Seeks Cuts in Vital Indian Programs

Bush Seeks to Cut Vital Indian Programs
By Kevin Abourezk

You couldn't hardly have scripted a more insulting response to last week's State of Indian Nations Address.

On Monday, President George W. Bush presented his budget for fiscal year 2009, which begins Oct. 1. In the final budget of his presidency, Bush proposed serious cuts in federal spending to many programs vital to Indian Country.

In his annual address last Thursday, President Joe Garcia of the National Congress of American Indians spoke about the need for economic development, health care reform, public safety funds and education reform for Indian Country.

"Through the eyes of a child, we see too much hurt, and regret, and loss," he said. "But through our own eyes, we can see opportunity, find answers and make lives better."

So it came as a slap in the face when Bush's budget Monday proposed cuts to many Indian programs, including:

• The Bureau of Indian Affairs education construction fund, which would be slashed by $177 million less than Congress appropriated for it this year, if Bush has his way. His budget sets aside just $140 million for that fund.

• The Indian Health Service's Urban Indian Health Program, which serves Indians in South Dakota communities like Sioux Falls and Pierre, would not be funded, and likely be eliminated, under Bush's proposed budget. Congress set aside $35 million for the program this fiscal year.

• The Indian Health Facilities fund, which would see a $22 million decrease under Bush's proposed budget and receive just $362 million for the next fiscal year. That account supports construction, repair and improvement of Indian Health Services facilities.

• Three Department of Justice programs that service Indian Country, which would be zeroed out under Bush's plan. Those programs provide for incarceration on tribal lands, tribal courts and grants for tribes. Congress provided $33 million for the programs for the current fiscal year.

• Two U.S. Department of Education programs that provide financial support to tribal colleges, universities and technical institutes would see none of the more than $30 million that Congress appropriated to them this fiscal year under Bush's budget.

• The Native American Housing Block Grants program, which Congress funded for $681 million this fiscal year, would see $54 million less under the president's budget.

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., sounded the alarm Monday about Bush's proposed cuts to Indian programs.

"The President's budget ... ignores the treaty and trust responsibility of the federal government," the senator said in a news release. "I will use my seat on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee to work to restore these programs this year."

While Bush has never been considered a friend to Indian Country, it's difficult to recall a time when the president has so blatantly shown his disdain for Native people as he has in recent weeks.

Coupled with his threatened veto of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act last month, Bush's proposed budget cuts can be seen as nothing less than evidence of an Indian fighter displaying his true nature.

There was one project familiar to Indian people for which Bush proposed increased funding.
Under his budget, the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada would see an additional $108 million in funding for the next fiscal year. Long opposed by tribes, the dump's elevated status in the Bush budget plan further demonstrates the president's lack of sensitivity to tribal concerns.

On the bright side, the president's budget is likely to see drastic changes before both Democratic-controlled Houses of Congress pass it.

And senators and congressional leaders friendly to Indians, like Johnson, already have vowed to seek fewer cuts to much needed social programs.

Kevin Abourezk, Oglala Lakota, is a reporter and editor at the Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star. He is a reznet assignment editor and teaches reporting at the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute.

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