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Stolen generations fury at memorial `whitewash'

By Debra Jopson and Michael Bradley

May 27 2002 - Representatives of the stolen generations will ask the Federal Government for land in Canberra to build their own memorial because they consider references to their history at the new Reconciliation Place to be a whitewash.

"We want to have the truth of the history told," said the chairwoman of the National Sorry Day Committee, Audrey Kinnear, at the ceremony in Parramatta yesterday.

She said there needed to be open acknowledgement that government policies in the past were aimed at assimilation through "breeding out the colour" but the Government had "done everything to present it as something else".

Committee member John Bond warned that some Aborigines had privately threatened to graffiti the references to child removal policies, including coating them in whitewash, once Reconciliation Place is completed.

She said committee representatives had met the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Philip Ruddock, and at a second meeting with his advisors in the past fortnight had been asked to state what they wanted in order to allow the nearly completed place to be opened. They now wanted their "own memorial where indigenous people can come and reflect and learn about the history".

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander commissioner, Murrandoo Yanner, unleashed a scathing attack upon the organisation, which he described as, "a heap of shit", "an oppressive regime", "tokenistic" and a "black rubber stamp", before declaring he would not be recontesting his position.

In a Sorry Day address at the Sydney Opera House, Mr Yanner said the ATSIC Act needed to be re-written, as it empowered government and bureaucrats, more so than Aboriginal people. He said ATSIC's elected representatives lacked sufficient legislative power and that "a single bureaucrat in Canberra has more power than the whole [ATSIC] council".

"Anybody who purports to represent Aboriginal people, can't really do that if you don't really run the show. Let's be honest about it, we're just a black rubber stamp ... the truth of the matter is we are absolutely pissweak."

Mr Yanner described ATSIC as a mechanism used by politicians to manipulate Aborigines and encourage them to fight among themselves for
resources. Because of this, Mr Yanner said he would not be contesting elections scheduled for October.

"We need to show that we can't be bought and more importantly, we have to show that we can't be divided. You can get power in ATSIC, but you've got to sell your soul, you've got to do a lot of back-stabbing and dirty-dealing and that's why I'm not running next time."

A spokesperson for Mr Ruddock said he was not surprised by Mr Yanner's comments, as the Minister has been made aware of the commissioner's concerns.

"The Government has made a pledge - it was one of our election commitments - to explore opportunities for more effective arrangements for ATSIC at the regional and national level."

Also yesterday, the co-patron of the National Sorry Day committee, Malcolm Fraser, said New Zealand was "far ahead" of Australia in achieving indigenous well-being. That had been achieved by a three-pronged approach to resolve the grievances between the indigenous people and other New Zealanders - a formal apology, cultural redress and commercial compensation which has led to Maoris owning more than half the country's commercial fishing.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald

Further Reading

• Look at us now
  June 15 2002 - At school, when the Aboriginal actor Deborah Mailman was cast as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz, she protested to the teacher: "Miss, I don't think Dorothy is black?"
• The long way home
  February 15, 2002 - All those behind the film ... recognise how hard it is for an Aboriginal film to find a mainstream cinema audience. The last success, some say, was Jedda in the 1950s.
• Indigenous filmmakers honoured
  May 21, 2002 - Indigenous stars of film and television have been honoured in a prestigious awards ceremony at the Sydney Opera House.

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