News items re National Sorry Day

[Lyn Jones]

Hello again Everyone,

this is a sample of news items from the WGAR website, marking National Sorry Day. For more news items, please see their website.

 

WGAR: Working Group for Aboriginal Rights (Australia)

WGAR Website: http://wgar.info/


27 MAY 2010: CALLS FOR COMPENSATION FOR THE STOLEN GENERATIONS

Contents:
Background
Calls for compensation for the Stolen Generations
Compensation and Reparations Petition
Stolen Generation legal action
Stolen Generations Working Partnership announced


BACKGROUND:

NSDC National Sorry Day Committee: http://www.nsdc.org.au/home/

Stolen Generations Alliance: http://www.sgalliance.org.au/


CALLS FOR COMPENSATION FOR THE STOLEN GENERATIONS:


- Radio

666 ABC Canberra: Afternoons with Genevieve Jacobs
Sorry Day
http://blogs.abc.net.au/canberra/2010/05/sorry-day.html
26 May 10: "Wiradjuri woman Helen Moran says the day is
incredibly important. "Sorry Day is a day to remember and
commemorate the stolen generations. We will walk across
bridges all over Australia to acknowledge that. We need
more than an apology. We need reparations and compensation.""


- Media Releases

Australian Human Rights Commission:
New partnership with Stolen Generations members welcomed
http://www.hreoc.gov.au/about/media/media_releases/2010/50_10.html
26 May 10: "“While I welcome the Stolen Generations’
Working Partnership and its commitment to reviewing the
recommendations of the 1997 Bringing them home Report, I
urge the Government to introduce, as a matter of urgency, a
reparations package that provides monetary compensation,
guarantees against repetition and provides restitution and
rehabilitation to the Stolen Generations,” he [Commissioner
Gooda] said. “The majority of Stolen Generations members
are now over 45,” he said. “We have no time to waste and
must move quickly to provide the help and support that is
needed before Stolen Generations members get too old or
die.”"

Greens: Australian Greens call for action
to match words on National Sorry Day
http://greensmps.org.au/content/media-release/australian-greens-call-action-match-words-national-sorry-day
26 May 10: "The Australian Greens today join with fellow
Australians to recognise National Sorry Day, acknowledging
the past hurt caused to Aboriginal people and renewing
calls for their Stolen Generations Repatriation Bill to
receive multilateral support in the Senate. “Today we
recognise and remember a tragic part of Australia’s history
and hope future Australian Governments will continue to
move away from past mistakes,” Australian Greens Indigenous
Affairs Spokesperson Rachel Siewert said today. ... "The
Greens' Bill to deliver reparations to the Stolen
Generations remains available to be acted upon by any
Government with the political will to right the wrongs of
the past and move forward.""


- News

Australian: Stolen Generations compensation still a sore point
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/stolen-generations-compensation-still-a-sore-point/story-e6frg6nf-1225871772507
27 May 10: "Mrs [Kathy] Mills feels, however, that the 2008
apology to the Stolen Generations by Prime Minister Kevin
Rudd was an empty gesture. "The apology was empty because
in the same breath Rudd took all the goodness out of the
intention by saying there will be no compensation," Mrs
Mills said. ... Stolen Generations Alliance chief executive
Rosie Baird says most of the 500 members in the Northern
Territory want financial compensation."

ABC: Sorry Day march calls for compensation
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/27/2910493.htm
27 May 10: "Indigenous and non-Indigenous people marked
National Sorry Day in Canberra yesterday by marching in
support of compensation for the Stolen Generations. ...
They marched across Commonwealth Avenue Bridge to
Parliament House. But the group stopped at the halfway mark
and sat down, symbolising their belief that the Federal
Government's apology to the Stolen Generations two years
ago did not go far enough