Whereas indigenous Australians are a people of many
languages and traditions who arrived on the continent more than 50,000 years
ago, and have one of the oldest continuing cultures on earth;
Whereas violence, discrimination, and disenfranchisement
played a significant role in European and indigenous Australian relations,
including the mass killings of indigenous Australians by European settlers
during the 18th century, restricting indigenous Australians from having the
unqualified right to vote in Australia until 1962, and forcibly removing
children of indigenous and Torres Strait Island ancestry from their homes and
communities and assimilating them in White families and orphanages for much of
the 20th century, victims of which have become known as the Stolen
Generations
;
Whereas the adoption of such discriminatory laws and
policies by the Australian Government undoubtedly contributed to the poverty,
unemployment, substandard education, crime, and poor health care that continue
to devastate indigenous communities;
Whereas despite centuries of official and unofficial
systems of discrimination, Australia’s indigenous people have made profound
contributions to Australia’s social fabric;
Whereas indigenous Australians were inspired by the
American Civil Rights Movement and organized against institutionalized
discrimination from the 1950s through the 1970s to fight for the rights and
privileges that they were denied in their native country;
Whereas, on February 13, 2008, after decades of requests
from activists and elected officials asking the Australian Government to
express an unqualified apology for its treatment of indigenous Australians,
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd apologized on behalf of the Australian
Government and its Parliament for the Stolen Generation and the overall “past
mistreatment” of indigenous Australians, and promised to address the resulting
social, economic, and health disparities in indigenous communities;
Whereas, as part of this apology, Prime Minister Rudd also
promised to “harness the determination of all Australians” to close the gap
that lies between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians in life expectancy,
educational achievement, and economic opportunity;
Whereas Australia’s national apology for the atrocities
that it committed against the indigenous people is a significant expression of
Australia’s willingness to come to terms with its past to better understand its
present and build a better future; and
Whereas Prime Minister Rudd, in a speech delivered to the
Australian Parliament on February 26, 2009, renewed Australia’s determination
to address the disparities faced by indigenous people and committed to a
national investment of $4,600,000,000 over 10 years to programs aimed at
eliminating these disparities: Now, therefore, be it
That the House of
Representatives—
(1)commends the Australian Government for
acknowledging the injustices of its past in order to understand the injustices
of its present and prevent these injustices from continuing in the
future;
(2)joins with the Australian Government in
hoping that this apology marks the start of a more open and fluid communication
between the indigenous community and the Australian Government, including a
commitment to addressing the social, economic, and health issues that
disproportionately affect indigenous Australians;
(3)regards the
Australian Parliament’s historic recognition of its past wrongs as an
inspiration for other multi-ethnic nations around the world to acknowledge the
injustices of its past in order to understand the injustices of its present and
prevent these injustices from continuing in the future; and
(4)remains committed
to comprehensively addressing the economic, educational, and health-related
disparities that continue to affect some Black, indigenous, and other
communities of color because of discriminatory laws that were authorized and
enforced by the United States local, State, and national governments.