ABC News
Fri, 12 May 2000 11:01 AEST
Outrage follows NT minister's
Stolen Generations
comments
The Northern Territory Stolen Generations
Corporation says it is disgusted by comments from
the Education Minister, Chris Lugg.
Mr Lugg told Parliament the Human Rights
Commission inquiry into the Stolen Generations
was unbalanced and almost fraudulent.
He says some Aboriginal mothers asked welfare
authorities to take their children away and that is
not acknowledged in the report.
But the corporation's Maurie Ryan says most of
the mothers did not speak or write English and did
not understand what was going on.
"I'm so disgusted with Mr Lugg as the Minister for
Education," Mr Ryan said.
"I'm appalled at his comments and I think the
Teachers Federation and men and women who
have children in school should take him to task,
he's speaking out of term (sic) here."
A well known Territory resident who worked with
the then Native Affairs Branch, Ted Egan, says he
has already apologised for his role in splitting up
Aboriginal families.
"It was the policy to encourage women to allow
their children to be taken away," Mr Egan said.
"It was called counselling, it was done on a very
one-sided basis and as Maurie says the mothers
couldn't read or write.
"It was persuasive counselling and it invariably
worked, I acknowledge the policy was dead wrong
and I was the first to sign the sorry books."
� 1999 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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