The time has come

Jules Andrews

In Germany, holocaust denial is a crime. It is illegal to deny the genocide 
and atrocities committed by the Nazis during WW2. It is also illegal to 
diminish the severity of the holocaust or the responsibility of the 
perpetrators.

Australia too, has a history of genocide, a well documented history of 
government policy and private acts aimed at eradicating the Aboriginal 
nations of this continent.

So to hear a prominent figure, political "statesman" Bill Hayden, publicly 
attack and deride Indigenous activists and their supporters, members of the 
judiciary and academia, and the Aboriginal community in general because 
they call for acknowledgment of the crimes of the past, saddened and 
sickened me way beyond John Howard's snivelling refusal to say "sorry".

Mr Hayden has in essence told Aborigines "keep your mouths shut and white 
people will like you more".

Mr Hayden's address was delivered at the University of Tasmania last 
Wednesday, they had asked him to speak on "Core Cultural Values".

He approached the theme thus: "While on the topic of throwing the lead out 
of our saddlebags, there are several other rallying standards which those 
supporting the cause of Aboriginal rights should quietly lay down. They 
provoke negative responses from the community because they are unfair on 
others and assault deeply held core cultural values."

So what does he recommend activists to quietly lay down?

The truth about Aboriginal children being stolen from their Mothers. Ditch 
the Bringing Them Home report he advises, as it is a "seriously 
flawed document."

The forced removal of children is only "alleged", and adults who claim they 
were abducted as children are suffering from "faulty memory syndrome".

No, Mr Hayden tells us, the real pain has been suffered by "a number of 
very decent people" whose reputations have been ruined by being named in 
the report as perpetrators of the policy. After all, says Mr Hayden, "These 
are Australian citizens who carried out acts of mercy."

Aborigines should also quietly lay down the truth about (white) Australia's 
"mass-murdering, racist, repressive ancestors".

Bringing up the unpleasant reality of our past has directly caused "opinion 
polls (to) reveal solid majorities against a range of indigenous 
Australians' welfare objectives."

If you don't say nice things about us, warns Mr Hayden, we won't give you 
any money.

He also generously suggested that it is their own "self pity" which "has 
condemned too many Aborigines to unthinking, complicit destruction of their 
societies."

Instead, Aboriginal communities should "take responsibility for their own 
destiny — to mobilise resources, to engage in real economic activity".

This trite statement would suggest that Mr Hayden has never visited 
communities such as Dajarra, Palm Island, or even Redfern.

It would also suggest he is oblivious to the realities of Howard's "Wik" 
legislation, which has virtually stripped from Aboriginal communities the 
few rights they had over the land and its resources.

To analyse the full text of his speech is unnecessary, Mr Hayden's words 
are plain enough.

The "core values" eschewed by Mr Hayden turn out to be an offensive 
pastiche of demagoguery, paternalism, rose-tinted denial, and blatant 
racism.

Being interviewed on television the next day, Mr Hayden then became 
revisionist historian. Accounts of the massacres of Aborigines were 
dubious, he informed us, "exaggerated", and some of the alleged massacres 
never happened.

And as a final assault on our intelligence, he maintained the people who 
support Aboriginal reconciliation — "the bridge marchers" — do not 
reflect the attitude of the majority of Australians.

Just like John Howard and Pauline Hanson, Bill Hayden's "core values" days 
lie back in the white-picket fence, white-Australian, blinkered, oblivious 
1950s.

Hundreds upon hundreds of thousands marched across those bridges, demanding 
an official apology for the stolen generations. The sheer numbers indicate 
a mass movement across all political and social spectra, a general raising 
of consciousness in today's Australia.

Hundreds of thousands more have signed the "Sorry Books".

And at the closing ceremony of the Sydney Olympics, 110,000 of Mr Hayden's 
"very decent people" rose in the stands to chant "TREATY, TREATY" along 
with Yothu Yindi.

The process for reconciliation will certainly continue without Mr Hayden.

His lies and insults only serve to remind us of the need to be vigilant 
against racism in all its forms.

At the closing ceremony, Midnight Oil graced the stage just before Yothu 
Yindi, and with their anthem "Beds Are Burning" captured the true feeling 
of today's Australia.

The time has come
To say fair's fair
To pay the rent
To pay our share
The time has come
A fact's a fact
It belongs to them
Let's give it back