tasmedia.org

Today I wake up to the incredible realisation that the Australian Government has begun the desperately needed healing process between the Indigenous peoples of this land and non-Indigenous Australian people and the infrastructural systems we have in place. Can I just say that I am proud to be part of a society in which this can happen!

It is such a monumental change in direction by the Government and is enormously beneficial to all Australians and provides hope for anyone who promotes social change. Culture can be changed. And I hope more real policy change will come as a result of this shift from racist rhetoric to reconcilatory rhetoric. Great things can happen from here.

BUT we need to make it known that compensation and future welfare/health and development policy and funding must be given to back this up lest it becomes seen as an empty act of cynical deception. I for one wish our Indigenous sisters/brothers the best in the future and I hope that as a society we can now exert energy in thinking about real issues of social change rather than naval gazing and interest rate watching.

Of course every major newspaper website has a story about this, here are links to some:

http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/sorry-tears-and-jeers/2008/02/13/1202760345721.html
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/02/13/2161452.htm
http://www.news.com.au/mercury/story/0,22884,23206212-921,00.html
http://tasmaniantimes.com/index.php?/weblog/article/the-apology/

Wow. The system is capable of the occasional great thing afterall :-)

And of course as a descendant of White colonial Australia, sorry, sorry, sorry.

Let the real healing begin...

Also I just noticed the following posts:
http://www.tasmedia.org/node/1670
http://www.tasmedia.org/node/1672
http://www.tasmedia.org/node/1656

Glad to see Aboriginal input ...

Michael Sharman
Tasmedia Webmaster