CHURCH organisations around Australia have hailed the Federal Government’s historic apology to the Stolen Generations as a major step forward for reconciliation between the nation’s indigenous and non-indigenous people.
However, the apology must be followed up with implementation of recommendations of the Bringing Them Home report to improve the health and living standards of Aborigines, according to spokespeople from the organisations.
The apology, delivered by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at the first sitting of Federal Parliament since last year’s election, was televised across Australia on Wednesday morning.
Brisbane Church groups, including the Catholic Justice and Peace Commission and Murri Ministry, welcomed the initiative.
Among national organisations welcoming the move were the Edmund Rice Centre and the Josephite order, whose sisters live and work in Aboriginal communities around Australia.
As The Catholic Leader went to press, the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference was preparing a statement in response to the apology.
However, the bishops’ Commission for Relations with Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders chairman Archbishop Barry Hickey of Perth recently said the Government should “express sorrow that terrible things happened to Aboriginal people, and continue to happen in many communities”.
Prominent Aboriginal Catholic leader National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (NATSIEC) executive secretary Graeme Mundine told The Catholic Leader that he welcomed the apology and that it was a “great opportunity” to start a process of removing “a stain on Australian society”.
Brisbane archdiocese’s Catholic Justice and Peace Commission’s executive officer Peter Arndt said the apology needed to be followed up with implementation of the many recommendations of the Bringing Them Home report.
