Australia's churches rebuke PM over Aborigines

SYDNEY - Australia's churches on Tuesday rebuked conservative Prime Minister John Howard for what they said was his failure to properly acknowledge the suffering of thousands of Aborigines under a past assimilation policy.

Howard has steadfastly refused to apologise to the "Stolen Generations" of Aborigines who as children were forcibly removed from their parents to live with whites.

"The fundamental truth of the stories of the Stolen Generations and their pain cannot be denied," said the National Council of Churches, which represents 10 Australian churches, including the two biggest, the Catholic and Anglican churches, and the Salvation Army and religious societies.

"The harm experienced by indigenous people, and the healing that has been too long delayed, cry out for attention by governments, by others involved, by all Australians," the council said in a statement.

General Secretary of the council Reverend David Gill said the statement was a direct response to Howard's refusal to say sorry to the Stolen Generations and his government's inadequate response to reconciliation between black and white Australia.

"If the government had acted properly then the churches would not have issued the statement," Gill told Reuters.

All of Australia's six state governments have apologised to the Stolen Generations, while some 300,000 of Australia's 19 million people have signed more than 1,000 so-called Sorry Books.

But Howard's Liberal/National coalition has criticised the 1997 Australian human rights commission report into the Stolen Generations, which said tens of thousands of Aborigines were taken away under a policy that amounted to "systematic racial discrimination and genocide."

Howard has branded calls for atonement as a "black armband" view of history.

The 1997 "Bringing Them Home" report said the generational fall-out from the assimilation policy, which existed from the 1880s to 1960s, left many Aborigines today facing alcohol, drug and sexual abuse.

CHURCHES PRAY FOR RACIAL HEALING

The council said that in consultation with Aborigines, Australia's churches would acknowledge their involvement in the removal and abuse of Aboriginal children and make church records accessible to the Stolen Generations.

"Many churches have offered apologies and taken steps towards reconciliation. Reaffirming these initiatives, recognising the pain and trauma of the Stolen Generations, we advocate the establishment of a healing commission," the churches said.

The churches also called for a national fund to be established by all Australian governments, national and state, as part of the "healing process."

Howard has ruled out compensation.

"We chose not to call it compensation but healing. How the hell do you compensate someone for this," said Gill.

The churches also urged all Australians, welfare and religious agencies and churches to contribute.

"Our churches will continue to pray and work for the healing of the nation," said the council.

The United Nations and human rights groups have criticised Australia for its treatment of its native people, who number around 400,000. Decimated by guns and disease after British colonial settlement in 1788, they were dealt with under flora and fauna laws until they got they vote in the 1960s.

Aborigines die on average 20 years younger than non-indigenous Australians, are up to 15 times more likely to be jailed and have grossly disproportionate rates of drug and alcohol abuse and school absenteeism.

04:23 05-22-01

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