Stolen Generations

Indigenous trailblazer Lowitja O'Donoghue dies aged 91

Retrieved on:

Monday, February 5, 2024

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains the name and images of a deceased person.

Key Points:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains the name and images of a deceased person.
One of Australia’s most highly-regarded Indigenous leaders, Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue, has died aged 91.

Later she was the first woman to be a regional director of an Australian federal department.

She was involved in Indigenous causes ranging in scope from the 1967 referendum to the native title legislation of the 1990s.
She turned down Paul Keating’s offer of the governor-generalship.

Her family said in a statement announcing her death: “Aunty Lowitja dedicated her entire lifetime of work to the rights, health, and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”.

‘A giant for our country’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described O'Donoghue as “a figure of grace, moral clarity, and extraordinary inner strength.
She provided courageous leadership during the Mabo debates and as chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission,” Albanese said.
She taught me how to be a good public servant and to operate ethically.” Noel Pearson said O'Donoghue was “a leaders’ leader”.
"Without Lowitja’s ATSIC we would never have defended Eddie Mabo’s great legacy and negotiated the Native Title Act and Indigenous Land Fund.”

Lowitja Institute patron Pat Anderson said she was “a national treasure”. “Courageous and fearless in leading change, Lowitja was continually striving for better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. She will remain in my heart as a true friend and an inspiration to Australians for years to come.”

Keating pays tribute

Keating said in a statement that O'Donoghue “led the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission with great power and
ambition.
"The consultation which gave effect to an Aboriginal voice speaking and representing a national community in designing a law to recover their expropritated traditional lands.

Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

'Reflect, listen and learn': Melissa Lucashenko busts colonial myths and highlights Indigenous heroes

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, October 18, 2023

Melissa Lucashenko’s latest novel, Edenglassie, takes the reader on a journey through magnificent and heartbreaking dual narratives set five generations apart.

Key Points:

Melissa Lucashenko’s latest novel, Edenglassie, takes the reader on a journey through magnificent and heartbreaking dual narratives set five generations apart.
Review: Edenglassie – Melissa Lucashenko (UQP) Lucashenko gifts us with characters impossible to not to invest in.
Read more:
With wit and tenderness, Miles Franklin winner Melissa Lucashenko writes back to the 'whiteman's world'

It’s Granny Eddie’s world

The first character we meet is Granny Eddie, who has been hospitalised after a fall.
Winona laments not seeing her Granny Eddie enough, while also trying to find a job, disrupt the colony and make sure her granny is safe and cared for.
Respectful, kind and considerate, he is trying his best to care for Granny Eddie – and finds himself pushing professional boundaries as he falls head over heels for fiery Winona.
She and Dr Johnny have much to learn from each other as they bond over their care for Granny Eddie.

Shifting time

Lucashenko transports you, shifting through time.
In 1844, we meet Mulanyin, saltwater man, whose inner complexities are explored in depth as he learns the Law and lessons from Country and Ancestors.
With that thought, the boy had the electric realisation that all his life he had been eating the decisions of his Ancestors.
With that thought, the boy had the electric realisation that all his life he had been eating the decisions of his Ancestors.
I am reminded of the poem, The Past, by the late Oodgeroo Noonuccal:
Let no one say the past is dead.
Haunted by tribal memories, I know
This little now, this accidental present
Is not the all of me, whose long making
Is so much of the past.

‘Your body is not your own’

In the present, Winona and Granny Eddie interact and relate with Māori mob, through shared understandings of birthing practices and opposition to white cultural appropriation.
I found myself laughing, crying and fighting off goosebumps as I read.
There were moments when I had to put the book down, to sit with what I was reading.
It is clear Lucashenko has done extensive research to position this historical fiction through past and present Magandjin localities.
This is further evidenced by Lucashenko’s extensive acknowledgments and thanks to contributors and knowledge holders in the book’s author notes.

The disability royal commission heard horrific stories of harm – now we must move towards repair

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

The final report of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability follows years of advocacy from the disability community.

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The final report of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability follows years of advocacy from the disability community.
The final report recommends disability service providers offer redress to people with disability who experience harm while receiving their services.
Read more:
Disability royal commissioners disagreed over phasing out 'special schools' – that leaves segregation on the table

What do ‘institutionalisation’ and ‘segregation’ mean?

All people with disability have the human right to live independently in the community regardless of how high their support needs are.
In 20th century Australia, people with disability were institutionalised in many large residential settings.

People with disability remain traumatised by their experiences, yet governments and charities have not been called to account.
Read more:
The disability royal commission recommendations could fix some of the worst living conditions – but that's just the start

Problems today

Today, many people – especially those with intellectual disability – live in group homes where segregation, social isolation, violence and lack of choice in their daily lives are a common reality.
The disability royal commission heard how group homes replicate the harm of large residential settings, with operators failing to prevent violence and avoiding accountability.

Recognising wrongs

Reparations are actions to recognise and respond to systemic wrongs.
They might involve compensation, restitution (such as returning money or property) or rehabilitation (health or legal services).
Reparations can seek satisfaction (with apologies and memorials) and guarantees something won’t happen again via law reform or human rights education.

What do people with disability want?

It is time to work with people with disability towards a national apology from the government.
In 2021, the Council for Intellectual Disability demanded withdrawal of an application for tourist re-zoning of Peat Island (the site of a disability institution for 99 years) and for memorialisation and truth-telling.
We found people with intellectual disability support the wider community learning more of what was experienced in these places.
Read more:
'Don't shove us off like we're rubbish': what people with intellectual disability told us about their local community

A way forward

The disability royal commission has highlighted systemic violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation in today’s Australia.
Reparations are one way to do this.
Jack Kelly has contributed to projects that have been funded by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA).

The Voice alone won't solve the issues facing Indigenous people. Everyone has to do that work

Retrieved on:

Tuesday, June 27, 2023

This may be why many Australians are expressing hope the Voice to Parliament is going to solve such problems.

Key Points:

This may be why many Australians are expressing hope the Voice to Parliament is going to solve such problems.
Indigenous leaders, scholars, activists and community members have spent decades suggesting solutions to inequities in this country, which still haven’t been implemented.
Read more:
Attention managers: if you expect First Nations' staff to do all your 'Indigenous stuff', this isn't support – it's racism

Indigenous people have already offered solutions

And expecting an Indigenous “Voice” to be a fix-all for inequities brought about by the colonial project is unrealistic and problematic.
As Indigenous academics have pointed out, often issues placed under Closing the Gap targets are lost in the list.
Indigenous leaders, communities and organisations have led research focusing on racism, Indigenous deaths in custody, the Stolen Generations, and the harm caused by the Northern Territory intervention.

What will be different this time?

The Voice to Parliament could potentially represent the views of Indigenous communities and hopefully assist in informing policy and legal decisions that impact our lives.
But the Voice to Parliament cannot solve the deeply entrenched racism and bigotry in Australian society, media, and institutions.
And expecting it to do so is assigning the role and responsibility of addressing racism to the people experiencing it.

Even if we get the Voice, non-Indigenous people still need to ‘do the work’

We cannot rely on one strategy to “solve” the racial divide in Australia.
The issues Indigenous People face need to be addressed now instead of passively waiting to see if we get the Voice to Parliament.

The antithesis of healing: the AFL turns away from truth-telling again, ending Hawthorn investigation

Retrieved on:

Thursday, June 1, 2023

The Indigenous-led ceremony was a deeply moving instance of community care, love and solidarity.

Key Points:

The Indigenous-led ceremony was a deeply moving instance of community care, love and solidarity.
Tuesday’s announcement by the AFL of the termination of the investigation into allegations of racism at Hawthorn was the antithesis of such healing.
The AFL has also hinted it may charge Hawthorn with bringing the game into disrepute over its handling of the internal report.

Sorry timing

It’s hard not to be cynical about the release of this news after the conclusion of the Sir Doug Nicholls “Indigenous round”, and Sorry Day.
If the allegations are true, it could be argued the Hawthorn officials who were involved thought they were acting in the “best interests” of the players.
How could the AFL not wish to find out the truth of the matter when the allegations concern such egregious conduct?
Outgoing AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan also claimed that the defendants had been “cleared” and the complainants “feel heard”.

(Not) listening to Indigenous voices

Yet, in electing to set up its own investigation into the allegations of racism at Hawthorn, the AFL was clearly going against the voices of key Indigenous women at the centre of these allegations.
The erasure of Indigenous women’s voices and experiences is also emblematic of life on this continent.
Indigenous women in Australia are eight times more likely to be murdered than non-Indigenous women, yet the violence they experience receives far less attention.

Truth-telling

What’s clearly needed is for the AFL to engage in a full process of truth-telling.
The AFL Players Association is the most recent group to note that the AFL’s investigation into Hawthorn was “not truly independent”.
Incoming AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon has proclaimed he is not part of a (white) boys club.

Principles for nationally consistent approaches to accessing Stolen Generations records – Joint statement by Australian Information Access Commissioners and Privacy Authorities

Retrieved on:

Monday, October 31, 2022

National Sorry Day, Enterprise Privacy Authorization Language, Bringing Them Home, Stolen Generations, Record, Aboriginal Healing Foundation, Privacy, Principle, Hospital, Dressmaker, Clockmaker

Principles for nationally consistent approaches to accessing Stolen Generations records Joint statement by Australian Information Access Commissioners and Privacy Authorities

Key Points:

Principles for nationally consistent approaches to accessing Stolen Generations records Joint statement by Australian Information Access Commissioners and Privacy Authorities
Information Access and Privacy regulators from across Australia have issued a joint statement to mark National Sorry Day (26 May).
Australian Information Access Commissioners and Privacy Authorities recognise the important role of historical records in truth telling and sharing history, intergenerational healing, redress and reparations for Stolen Generation survivors and their families.
The Healing Foundations Principles for nationally consistent approaches to accessing Stolen Generations records will inform ongoing discussions about greater national consistency.
We acknowledge that the Principles support implementation of recommendations about access to records from the Bringing Them Home (1997) and Make Healing Happen: Its time to act (2021) reports.

Apologies

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, December 2, 2020

Articles, Parliament of the United Kingdom, Ten Minute Rule, Stolen Generations, Parliament of Singapore, Social institutions, Brexit

Latest news on the Apologies Bill 2019-21

Key Points:

Latest news on the Apologies Bill 2019-21
The next stage for this Bill, Second reading,is scheduled to take placeon Friday 5 March 2021.
This is a Private Members'Billand was introduced to Parliament on Tuesday 1 December 2020 under the Ten Minute Rule.
If the text of the Bill is not yet available, please contact its sponsor, John Howell MP, for more information.
Summary of the Apologies Bill 2019-21
A Bill to make provision for the effect of an apology in certain legal proceedings.

Statement - Statement on the 10th Anniversary of the Apology to Former Students of Indian Residential Schools

Retrieved on:

Monday, June 11, 2018

Cultural assimilation, Institutional abuse, Culture, Abuse, Human behavior, Anglican Church of Canada, Canadian Indian residential school system, Education in Canada, Stolen Generations, Truth and Reconciliation Commission

OTTAWA, June 11, 2018 /CNW/ -The Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett, issued the following statement today:

Key Points:

OTTAWA, June 11, 2018 /CNW/ -The Minister of Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs, Carolyn Bennett, issued the following statement today:
"Today we reflect on a historic milestone in our journey toward reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples: the 10th anniversary of the Government of Canada's Apology to former students of Indian Residential Schools, their families and communities.
We know there is more to do, including working with the Metis Nation and all other Indigenous peoples not included in that agreement to ensure they feel part of Canada's efforts to address past wrongs.
That is why we feel it is important to release versions of the apology in a number of Indigenous languages today so survivors hear that message in the language they were forbidden to use at these schools.
On this tenth anniversary of the Apology to Residential School survivors, I would like to reaffirm our Government's commitment to advancing reconciliation and improving the lives of Indigenous Peoples.