Stolen generation [sic] members dismiss Howard's apology Source: AAP | Published: Thursday August 26 2:47:49 PM Members of the stolen generation today reacted angrily to Prime Minister John Howard's expression of regret in federal parliament, saying it did not go far enough. They said Mr Howard's statement may benefit Australia's profile but would not help the Aboriginal people who were taken from their families as children, in accordance with past government policy. They doubted the sincerity of Mr Howard's statement because the Commonwealth was fighting a compensation case by those children in the Federal court here. They estimated the government had spent $6 million on the case. 'How can they be serious about regret while they pour millions of dollars into fighting our compensation claim tooth and nail?' said Central Australian Stolen Generations Aboriginal Corporation (CASGAC) spokesman Harold Furber. 'How can they be serious about atonement if they will not consider some form of compensation to the individuals whose lives were devastated. 'We have grave concerns that the deal being done in Canberra will look good for the nation but will not benefit a single member of the stolen generation.' Central Land Council director Tracker Tilmouth accused Mr Howard of trying to weasel out of saying sorry and said expressing regret was not good enough. 'He must say sorry, not some play on words or legal squirming phrases designed to get him off the hook,' Mr Tilmouth said. 'We of the stolen generation find this a deplorable lack of compassion by the Australian government and should be noted as such. Mr Tilmouth also took a swipe at Aboriginal Democrat Senator Aiden Ridgeway for accepting Mr Howard's form of apology. Senator Ridgeway's maiden speech to parliament last night called on the government to express deep and sincere regret for the hurt and trauma suffered by indigenous Australians. 'Some Aboriginal leaders and members of parliament are too willing to sign off on the hard issues because some white fella said g'day to them," Mr Tilmouth said. ------------------------------------------------------- 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/