>From what Howard is saying it is obvious he hasn't learnt anything at all. He still doesn't understand and is defending the 'well-meaning' and the present generation. Daryl Melham is right - this is a political deal. Trudy ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ABC News: Thu, 26 Aug 1999 15:32 AEST Present generations not responsible for the past: Howard The Prime Minister, John Howard, says the greatest blemish on Australia's national story is the treatment of its indigenous people. Mr Howard has tabled a motion in Parliament which expresses deep regret for the injustices suffered by indigenous people under past practices. It also expresses a belief that Australians can now move forward for the benefit of all. In his speech to Parliament, Mr Howard reiterated his belief that present generations should not be held accountable for the mistakes of the past. "Nor should we ever forget that many people who were involved in some of the practices that caused hurt and trauma felt at the time that those practices were properly based and to apply retrospectively the standards of today to their behaviour does some of those people who were sincere an immense injustice," he said. But Labor has refused to support the resolution and has moved an amendment to upgrade it to an unreserved apology. The Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Daryl Melham, says unless the Prime Minister makes a full apology, the trauma of indigenous people will continue. "This is a political deal, I'm not signing up to it, and nor is the Labor Party," he said. "That's why we're moving the amendment and we say to the Prime Minister you accept our two paragraphs, then it doesn't stop there, you can't have an apology like this," Mr Melham said. © 1999 Australian Broadcasting Corporation ------------------------------------------------------- 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/
