Australia: Formal Apology First Step Towards Reconciliation

by Global Ministries | published on Oct 10, 2014

NSW Upper House member, the Rev Dr Gordon Moyes, has supported Prime Minister Rudd’s apology to the Stolen Generations as an important step towards reconciliation. “The Federal Government’s plan for a formal apology to the stolen generations – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who were removed from their families and communities as part of the assimilation policies of the governments of the day, is a welcome and long overdue move,” Dr Moyes said.

The Australian Christian
by : Craig Brown

As Superintendent of Wesley Mission for 27 years and pastor to the slums of inner-Melbourne, Rev Dr Moyes has helped and supported the most disadvantaged indigenous people in our country. Dr Moyes said, “This formal apology is a necessary stage in Australia’s history and development as we move forward together, indigenous people and non-indigenous people side by side. This is the first step towards healing the national divide.” While a national apology would represent a culmination of the Reconciliation movement, it is only one step along the road to collective healing for all Australians.

Rev Dr Moyes has called on both the Federal and State Governments to restore the basic human rights of our first inhabitants and close the appalling gap in life expectancy, infant mortality, child sexual abuse, drug and alcohol addiction, education between Aborigines and white Australians. Dr Moyes said, “In Australia, Indigenous children are more likely to be taken into state care than other children. They are more likely to become homeless; they are more likely to end up in jail. The health of Indigenous Australians is far worse than for any other groups of people.”

Furthermore, Rev Dr Moyes has called on the newly appointed Federal Government to sign the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Dr Moyes said, “If the Australian Government can ratify the Kyoto Protocol in tackling global climate change, it should commit itself to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. The Declaration reaffirms that indigenous people are entitled to all human rights recognised in international law without discrimination. Australia has nothing to lose in signing the Declaration and much to gain in agreeing to adhere to human rights principles in its treatment of indigenous people. In not signing, we have sent a strong message to the rest of the world that Indigenous people are not deserving of the freedom and equality that many of us take for granted.”