Note this claim** I don't think that Howard would know the "average Aborigine" if he fell over one. I don't believe his contact with Indigenous Australians is anywhere near what he is trying to claim. This whole thing was said last night and he had a smirk on his face that would have done Costello proud! Trudy PM plays down Olympic violence threats Source: AAP | Published: Tuesday April 4, 3:04 AM Prime Minister John Howard has played down threats of violent protests at the Olympic Games as a national brawl intensifies over the term stolen generation. Mr Howard said he could understand the deep feelings in the community over indigenous issues but said the Olympics should be an advertisement for Australia's tolerant and open society. ATSIC Commissioner Charles Perkins has predicted a violent disruption to the Olympics with Aborigines protesting over a government submission which said there was no such thing as a stolen generation. "I think cooler heads will prevail," Mr Howard told reporters last night. "That's certainly the message I would send out. **"I don't find as I go around the Australian community the average Aborigine wanting to disrupt the Games. "Quite the reverse - most of them agree with Cathy Freeman." Freeman, the world 400m running champion, has called on Australians not to politicise the Games. Mr Howard and Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Herron stood defiant yesterday in arguing that the removal of only 10 per cent of Aboriginal children from their families did not amount to a stolen generation. The Human Rights Commission said Senator Herron had misrepresented its Bringing Them Home report by arguing that as few as one in 10 Aboriginal children had been taken under past assimilation policies. "It is a hurtful rewriting of history for the new millennium," the commission said in a statement. Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation chairwoman Evelyn Scott and her deputy, Sir Gustav Nossal, accused Senator Herron of greatly harming the reconciliation process. But Mr Howard stood by his minister, praising Senator Herron's contribution to an intelligent debate. "The minister put the submission forward in good faith and I think he's argued the contents of that submission with his commendable decency and candour," Mr Howard told parliament. Defending himself against a censure motion, Mr Howard strongly defended his approach to indigenous issues and said he was committed to the reconciliation process. -- _________________________________ Truth is a pathless land. --- Krishnamurti ------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------ 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/
