15 February, 2016
15 February 2016
Further insult and humiliation for Stolen Generations
Members of the Stolen Generations will feel insulted and humiliated by a Sydney radio broadcaster's call for the return of the shameful practice of race-based child removal, NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC) Chair Roy Ah-See said today.
Cr Ah-See said Sydney-based broadcaster Alan Jones hit a new low today by reportedly saying Australia needed more Stolen Generations to deal with alcohol and drug abuse.
Cr Ah-See said the "Bringing Them Home Report", released in 1997, comprehensively documented the abuse and mistreatment of Australia's First Peoples by consecutive Federal and State governments from the 19th century to the 1970s.
"Reintroducing a Stolen Generation would massively increase the suffering of Aboriginal families, placing many more Aboriginal children at risk.
"The sad fact is that the practice of removing children based on their race is a major contributing factor to the difficulties that many Aboriginal families face today.
"Although some of these children went to loving families, many were institutionalised and abused. The majority lost their cultural identity and all contact with their natural families," he said.
Cr Ah See said that these children were traumatised and had no parental role models to draw on when they had their own children.
"As a result they are more likely to suffer from violence and substance abuse, be unemployed, have contact with the criminal justice system and have their own children removed.
"Reintroducing the stolen generations would only perpetuate this cycle of abuse. It would destroy the lives of Aboriginal children, not protect them.
"The comments made by Alan Jones today are appalling in their insensitivity and cannot be seen as a sane policy response to the issues of substance abuse in our communities."
Media contact: Andrew Williams 0429 585 291