How can Australia move forward?

Late this morning I finished reading Sorry and Beyond (Brian Butler & John Bond, 2021), the current selection for our book club initiated through the Toowoomba First Nations Allies group established in the wake of the 2023 referendum. Coincidentally, as I scrolled through The Guardian while eating lunch I read a piece about how the Voice referendum appears to have normalised racism toward indigenous Australians. The first is a story of long struggle followed by a little progress and hope for more. The second suggests that our nation may have regressed in some ways.

Sorry and Beyond recounts the horrific history of more than a century of removal of indigenous children from family and community. Removals started in the first years of colonisation and it was not until 1969 that the last state legislation providing for removal as a tool of assimilation was repealed. However, that did not stop removals. In 2007 there were 9054 indigenous children in out of home care. That number had almost doubled by 2018 and by 2024 had risen to 22908, representing 41% of children in out of home care despite indigenous children being only 6% of Australian children. How can that not indicate some degree of racial discrimination?

Butler and Bond step through early efforts to reunite separated families and the struggle for the national inquiry that resulted in the Bringing Them Home report. They recount the efforts to have the federal government respond appropriately, the intransigence of PM John Howard, the broad public support for celebration of Sorry Day, the mass bridge walks, the work for a national memorial, the impact of the Rabbit Proof Fence film, and more. Eventually, on 13 February 2008, new PM Kevin Rudd delivered the long awaited National Apology to the Stolen Generations. Other former PMs were in attendance but John Howard was not. Neither was would be future PM, Peter Dutton. Years later, as leader of the LNP, he claimed to regret that but his actions since suggest otherwise.

The book continues with recounts of what followed the apology including the Rudd and Gillard government efforts at Closing the Gap, subsequent funding cuts by the Abbott government, struggles for compensation of those removed and for return of stolen wages, the patchy revitalisation of indigenous languages, and the continuing challenges around juvenile justice. It ends on a note of hope, quoting the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

At publication of Sorry and Beyond in 2021, as the Morrison government decayed and the ALP promised to implement the Uluru Statement, there was reason for hope. The movement toward recognition appeared to have momentum and broad support. There was no evidence of the Dutton-Price-Mundine wreckers to come.

Now, a bit more than a year after the failed referendum, the damage appears to be considerable. Debate prior to the referendum gave licence to public expression of racist views that probably existed but were checked by more positive societal norms. As conservative politicians let loose with misinformation about the proposed constitutional change some people felt free to express opinions that might have previously been unacceptable in public. It did not help that so many citizens know too little about our system of government and were easily persuaded that any change to the constitution was a threat to the nation.

The Guardian report notes an increase in racism expressed in traditional and social media, suggesting that some of the positive energy that flowed from the national apology has been dampened by ongoing negativity including Dutton’s comments about dropping the use of indigenous flags and other dog-whistling. If the nation is to move forward it is doubtful that a Dutton government is the way. Unfortunately, Albanese and the ALP appear to have lost their mojo after the referendum defeat and seem unlikely to offer the necessary leadership. Perhaps the only way forward is through a broader movement of people as followed the stolen generations report.