ABSTRACT
In a postcolonial world, our history comes back to haunt us and it becomes difficult to move forward without dealing with the past. In Australia, the issues of land rights and stolen generations dominate the politics of reconciliation, with diverse voices contesting both the history and what to do about it. Debates are highly charged, and for many commentators John Howard’s conservative government has not dealt productively with the situation:
On taking office the Howard government mounted a cynical and sustained campaign to discredit the institutions of Aboriginal welfare and the processes of self-determination and reconciliation, culminating in Howard’s shameful refusal to apologise on behalf of the nation for the policies of forced removal of Aboriginal children from their parents. The prime minister invited the outpouring of racial hatred through the calculated persecution of the “Aboriginal industry” and his attacks on the “black arm-band view” of Australian history. (Hamilton, Guardian Weekly June 21, 1998, p. 12)
