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Ruddy apologies

IF I were transported back in time I would do my best to change many practices of my country's earlier generations.

Carry me back far enough and to Britain and I'd be vociferous in my campaigning against the transporting to Australia of people who'd stolen an apple or committed some other trivial offence. It is unimaginable that even in those dark days the exiling of a child, a mother, a father and breadwinner to the end of the known Earth for anything less than a wicked crime could be supported as just and moral, but, then again, it is very difficult to accept that many government policies since then were seen as just, fair and benevolent.

The descendants of many of the people so cruelly exiled are among us today, but it is not for us to say sorry. It is for the Queen, our Queen.

We can say sorry for many of our own government policies.

To women, Prime Minister Rudd can direct a national apology for the discrimination that barred them from so many careers and jobs beyond the mundane. Indeed, a great many women endure the lingering ramifications of that discrimination today, and they're not necessarily old.

It wasn't many years ago at all that one of my workmates was sent home without pay because she was pregnant, the editor at the time deeming that pregnant women should not be at work even though her work was not impaired, and I know that this created financial problems for her family. Seems outrageous now, doesn't it?

Transport me back and I'll fight the good fight. Then, I bowed to greater wisdom and higher authority, which I was then more inclined to accept as the same thing.

Corporal punishment in schools! The whipping of children with canes was open slather when I was at school, and at my Newcastle school all, if not most, teachers carried a cane so they could wield it with barely a moment's notice. I was caned pretty well every day.

Today, a teacher who lays even a friendly hand on a child can be in strife and not even parents are free to whip out the whistling cane.

What about men who were barred from a police career because they were short of a minimum height! Homosexual men and women who were openly despised and harassed with the blessing of government!

Now, if I were to speak out against these practices I would have to do so with the mores, the principles and the attitudes I have now. Just as those principles now are largely a product of evolution within my society, so then, 30 years or a century ago, my principles would be those of evolution to that time.

It is likely that I would have seen as fair, necessary and benevolent many of the policies we see now as outrageously unjust.

Rather than a matter of regret, we should be pleased that our society's processes and our own reasoning have developed in such a way that we have changed.

Those processes and reasoning have not, though, developed sufficiently for us to see the "sorry" to be expressed by Kevin Rudd tomorrow for what it is: infantile nonsense. Yes, it is short of the comical puerility of The Sorry Book studiously ignored by almost all Australians just a few years ago, but nonsense nonetheless.

There was no stolen generation. Many Aboriginal children were removed from their family for valid welfare reasons that should apply more often today than they do, and it is far from established that even those bureaucrats who removed children from their family and settlement in an attempt to "breed out the colour" did not believe they were acting benevolently.

Mr Rudd would have the backing of all Australians rather than those too easily impressed by the day's particular worthiness if he apologised for the bureaucratic timidity that led to the rape by nine teenagers and men of a 10-year-old Aboriginal girl returned by bureaucracy to her Cape York community recently. That's here and now and our fault.

Since I wrote those words in The Herald in February last year national apologies have not been off Kevin Rudd's agenda. As you know Aborigines have had the benefit of one, although it was never clear to me whether it was all or some Aborigines, and people who were admitted to institutions are next. Who else deserves one? Do you? Will those who've missed out on a national apology get one for being overlooked?

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Posted By: Jeff Corbett on 29/10/2009 9:03:00 AM | Comments (19)

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Would it be too harsh to suggest that many groups and individuals simply need to 'get over it'? I think we are cultivating growing numbers of groups and people that seem to need an apology before they can get on with their lives. Often (not always) the subject matter is quite trivial. Should we apologise for conscripting young men and sending them to various theatres of war, over the years? I suspect most soldiers would shrug their shoulders in bemused indifference, because they learned self reliance and self responsibility. The specific case of the 10 year old girl is a particularly heinous one, and that person and her family deserve an apology, not from the Australian community, but from the bureaucrats and the government involved. And would K Rudd consider apologising for his intense boringness? I'll even accept it in Mandarin....

Posted by Abundance, 29/10/2009 9:17:17 AM

The antithesis of denial and ignorance is examination, education, awareness and finally truth and knowledge. . Are you saying that you dont think this process is worthwhile for us all to be part of? ' Are you saying its a flawed process? . Are you saying that history has no place in the present as its past? . I say to know ourselves there is no better way to be real today than relive history and for it to become a truthfull part of our conciousness. . We could always whitewash it all with theme parks , hype and spin for an altered perception on who and what we are? learn, experience , know and be wise is what i say right now for now. The past is paramount to have a progressive society. . In case anyone has been noticing that is what the global agenda seems to be with people , society and wrongfull behaviour? . Sadly though still selective and in denial for much due to ..politics, corruption and lawlessnes

Posted by notashrink, 29/10/2009 9:22:10 AM

Our law-abiding citizens need an apology for the lax punishment handed to people who disregard society's rules. There should be punishment for first-time offences such as stealing and burning cars, excessive speeding, bashing people and hold-ups. (I'm sure there are other crimes I should add.) You and I know it's wrong. Ten-year olds know it's wrong. I have the perfect punishment! Whipping! It's not long lasting but the criminals would be whimpering and would think twice next time. Then again, we are partly to blame because we allow the sale of excessive amounts of alcohol, we promote it in advertisements and we display it in photos on the social pages. Another apology which we will see in the future is to the terminally ill people and their families who were made to suffer until death released them. How very cruel we are.

Posted by Win, 29/10/2009 9:35:23 AM

What changed after the national sorry day? Was there some miraculous improvement in the lives of aboriginies? Did we all gaher together and sing kumbaya? Did we fall asleep that night with a smile on our face and a warm fuzzy feeling? I think not. The "sorry" is more of a token gesture that lets everyone say "Oh, isn't that nice" but really think "Ok, that's out of the way, let's get on with our lives." The pending sorry declaration is the same and really it's like me apologising to the descendants of a man my great grandfather may have killed in WW1. It's a hollow "sorry" that contains no reconciliation or redemption for either party. How would we go demanding an apology for the family of the man bashed to death by a group of 30 aboriginies when he objected to them stealing beer from his esky while he played beach cricket with his family on Xmas day? What about the elderly lady knocked down and robbed at Wallsend recently? Where's her apology? Reconciliation and apology is a two way street. The apology may be demanded but is it truly accepted? Will we awake on the weekend and see the world in a different light? The world is the way it is, no matter how many "sorry's."

Posted by Sorry seems to be the hardest word, 29/10/2009 9:43:17 AM

Jeff, I thought this "sorry" was to people who as children were sent to Australia as perceived ophans, post WW2 mainly from England. The "sorry" is for their treatment once here, not for their transportation.

Posted by Buell, 29/10/2009 11:08:25 AM

It seemed to me that it was for children sent to the institutions transported or otherwise. That would certainly be more inclusive, which is the buzz word.

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 29/10/2009 11:10:34 AM

in my opinion, the sorry isn't about blame or responsibility, it's about acknowledgement that some bad things happened. What has changed for aborigines since the apology? the mindset. true reconciliation cannot and will not occur without an acknowledgement that wrongs took place. what has changed for them is that we as a nation aren't officially denying this anymore. I believe when it comes to the so called stolen generation there was little if any malice in the actions taken, but the results were still detrimental to the lives and culture of many. It cost us nothing to apologise, but buys a way forward where this is no longer an obstacle to reconciliation.

Posted by Perspective, 29/10/2009 11:31:29 AM

Jeff , I would like an apology for having to pay a bucketload of tax every year and seeing it squandered by the most gormless PM this country has seen , on complete waste of time issues like the ETS , bonus payments for bogans to keep breeding and anything to do with the aboriginal apologist industry - the great majority of us just get on with it without the need for some simpering apology from a grubby politician.

Posted by smithy, 29/10/2009 11:36:45 AM

I want an apology from journalists who use the expression "meteoric rise". Meteors, by their very nature, come crashing to earth with great speed.

Posted by The Queen's English, 29/10/2009 1:01:26 PM

And spiralling, QE. Spiralling up or spiralling down?

Posted by Jeff Corbett on 29/10/2009 1:04:48 PM

When will Kevin07/ Recession 09 apologise for constantly "making no apology"?

Posted by Scott Hillard, 29/10/2009 1:40:59 PM

We went to the State Primary Schools athletics carnival at Homebush today,very inspiring. There are a host of promising young athletes with great ability and great attitude and will surely do Australia proud in the years to come but the athletes who really shone were those with a disability.One young man about 12 made his way to the start of the100m in his wheelchair, he took his position,then stood with the aid of his two prosthetic legs and every step he took was one of courage, while he finished further back than walla walla, he was cheered by the entire crowd all the way. Others to inspire were the cerebral palsy kids who ran with frames, the dwarfs who took on goliaths, the blind who ran with guides,the kids with interllectual difficulties who were not sure of the rules and those in wheelchairs, they all were the CHAMPS.

Posted by chaff and oats, 29/10/2009 4:51:20 PM

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