Is the govt now trying to divert attention by misquoting Jackie Huggins, or is Senator Newman really that clueless? A comparison of denials was made, not the two events. How can Aborigines be un-Australian?? --- Trudy ========================================================= Stolen generation nothing like Holocaust - Newman Source: AAP | Published: Sunday April 2, 10:57 AM Likening the stolen generation of Aboriginal children to victims of the Holocaust was disgraceful, federal Family and Community Affairs Minister Jocelyn Newman said today. She accused a small number of Aboriginal leaders of hijacking an Aboriginal agenda which the majority did not agree with. "People using the Holocaust for comparison, I think is disgraceful," Senator Newman told the Nine Network's Sunday program. "It bears no relationship to that. The people who were taken away were usually taken away because they were trying to be helped. "That generation's approach to life has been rejected by succeeding generations but there was no suggestion of anything like, approaching the Holocaust." Such a comparison diminished what took place in the Holocaust of World War II, when six million Jews were exterminated by the Nazis, she said. In a leaked report, Aboriginal Affairs Minister John Herron yesterday argued against a need for compensation, saying there was never a generation of stolen children because there were no more than 10 per cent of Aboriginal children taken from their families. Jackie Huggins, the Queensland co-commissioner sitting on the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission inquiry to which the leaked report was made, drew parallels with the government's stand and people who denied the Holocaust occurred. "It's a historical fact that indigenous people were taken from their families and I think they have misrepresented the numbers deplorably," she said. "These people were taken from their families and ripped from their mother's arms. "I equate it (the government's submission) to the Holocaust not happening to them," she said. Senator Newman said there were many Aborigines whose views never reached the media. "I don't think the more extremist reactions to the Aboriginal cause do any good because the majority of Australians do not believe this was in any way comparable to a Holocaust," she said. Senator Newman said any protest by Aborigines at the Sydney Olympics would be un-Australian. "They can do it but do you think it's fair to Australia to do that to its image? "This is a generation that did not have anything to do with the separated children. "This is a generation that's spending its taxes to try and deal with the disadvantage, the practical disadvantage of poor health outcomes and poor housing, poor education ...," she said. -- _________________________________ 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/
