Letters: Another Howard promise bites the dust Date: 01/03/2000 So Aden Ridgeway and Lowitja O'Donohue are disappointed by John Howard's decision to cancel the deadline for reconciliation. Blind Freddy could see that John Howard and his Government have had absolutely no commitment to reconciliation or to indigenous people. This has been obvious from the moment he took office. He slashed indigenous funding, refuses to offer a national apology and supported the rape of indigenous land in Kakadu and South Australia by mining companies; he harangued our people at their own conference, implemented the 10-point plan to stop our land rights, and refuses to do anything about mandatory sentencing. All I can say is, Mr Howard, I hope you enjoy the protests at the Olympics. Kim Bullimore, Cook (ACT). It saddens me, but so often lately I feel a sense of regret on being Australian. Like the time when in Kyoto, Australia became a pariah among industrialised countries by blocking agreement on greenhouse gas emissions; and when our "pygmy" Prime Minister shows the world he cannot get his mouth around the word "sorry". There are other times, such as when a 15-year-old Aborigine commits suicide and highlights our failure to comply with the United Nations treaty on the rights of the child, a treaty we signed and now dishonour. Now we have John Howard demonstrating a lack of vision and leadership by abandoning his stated commitment to reconciliation with our indigenous people. And once I was proud to be Australian. Bill Holland, Westleigh. My fervent hope is that Mrs Janette Howard will intervene in the issue of a Government-led apology to the stolen generation. Surely she occasionally sidles up to her husband after he's had a rough day in Parliament and says, "Sorry you've had a bad day, John", knowing full well that it is not her fault that he has. And I bet the Prime Minister appreciates it when it happens. Mark Stafford, Killara. John Howard loves the classics, doesn't he? Assailed on every side by plunging poll ratings caused by the GST, he performs the classic tory diversionary manoeuvre of chucking a controversial red herring into the works. And what a classic it is: the race card. There won't be reconciliation by the centenary of Federation as promised. (He also promised no GST once, remember?) It's controversial enough to put the GST on the backburner and appeal to the far right in the Coalition, who were getting edgy about liberal Liberals who were showing concern about mandatory sentencing. Not only that, he braves the new arch-enemy, the Murdoch press, to do it (a secondary diversionary manoeuvre, worthy of a champion). This tactic is tried and tested. Remember when the GST returned to the agenda a couple of years back? Now, what was used as a diversionary tactic to make us forget about it? Was it the sell your house to get into an old folks' home debacle? I can't remember. Darned effective, those diversionary tactics. Stuart Lecky, Mayfield West. Silly me. I thought Honest John had said he was committed to "the cause of reconciliation". I didn't realise he meant it was a "non-cause" promise. The man has no shame. Doug Sharp, Long Jetty. Lorraine Nelson (Letters, February 28) makes categorical statements about alleged government policies regarding Aborigines. She says, "The government policy of assimilation resulted in Aboriginal children being taken from their parents right up to the 1970s, not because they were not being properly cared for, but because they were 'light-skinned'." One would hope she has empirical data and incontrovertible fact to back up such a sweeping statement. Which government are we talking about, and where is the proof of her provocative statements? The (in my view largely discredited) Bringing them Home report establishes the myth of the "stolen generation". In NSW, figures show 5,625 Aboriginal children were removed from their families from 1883 to 1969 - an average of 65 a year - and in South Australia over 54 years the average was about seven. Most children were rescued from a life of certain squalor, deprivation and worse. Paul Ford, Currumbin Waters (Qld). The Prime Minister's abandonment of the reconciliation deadline is very disappointing. He has again shown a total lack of leadership. Perhaps he should take a cue from President Wahid, who today visits East Timor. Tony Simons, Lane Cove. -- ********************************* Make the Hunger Site your homepage! http://www.thehungersite.com/index.html ********************************* ------------------------------------------------------- RecOzNet2 has a page @ http://www.green.net.au/recoznet2 and is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/ To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED], and in the body of the message, include the words: unsubscribe announce or click here mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20announce This posting is provided to the individual members of this group without permission from the copyright owner for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research under the "fair use" provisions of the Federal copyright laws and it may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner, except for "fair use." RecOzNet2 is archived for members @ http://www.mail-archive.com/recoznet2%40paradigm4.com.au/
