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Topic: Social Issues

'No' To Aboriginal 'Stolen Generation' Compensation

By Gareth Eastwood   2008-02-13

John Howard's Australian federal government staunchly refused to make a formal apology to Aborigines over the 'stolen generation' issue. We gather that was due to a perceived danger of an apology being monetized through massive compensation claims, presumably with huge sums going straight into the pockets of lawyers along the way. I have two main reasons for agreeing with this position, or at least, disagreeing strongly with compensation for those affected.

First and foremost, the Aborigines are far from the only people in society whose lives have been severely damaged, if not completely ruined by external factors beyond their control. Administrational failings, inappropriate policy, inequitable social values or some other such unfairnesses have had a calamitous effect on countless individuals over the decades.

There are battered wives, there are children either abandoned, beaten or sexually assaulted by their male relatives, victims of horrific crimes in earlier periods etc. Almost all of these got no compensation. There are people whose parents or children were killed in road accidents by irresponsible or drunken drivers in earlier periods. Many of these also got no compensation. There are people who lived through and suffered the horrors of wars in Europe, the middle-east and far-east. Many arrived in this country clinging to life aboard rickety boats with just the clothes on their backs. No compensation for them, either.

I'm not aware that the parents of the Beaumont children were ever paid compensation for their loss, nor any other parents whose children were abducted or met with foul play. I am also not aware that compensation was ever paid to the children of parents who met with foul play. Even where victims-of-crime payments are made nowadays, they are only modest amounts.

The overwhelming majority of these people mentioned, who probably number in the millions, have suffered psychological and emotional mutilation, but they never did and never are going to receive a cracker in compensation. They will, however, be hit with a share of the bill for Aboriginal compensation if it occurs, which means they will lose out twice.

The Aborigines are simply not the only ones in our society who have suffered. It is very true that those other individuals mentioned have fared far better, coping with their losses and moving on from them much more effectively in most instances. Far from proving that the Aborigines therefore deserve individual compensation this actually proves the opposite. A great failing lies within the Aborigines themselves. We do not owe them compensation for that, though we do owe it to them to help them improve themselves.

It's not that I don't sympathise with them over the difficult position that they have generally found themselves in. Like any sensible person I am saddened to see them living dismal lives that are far shorter and filled with more agonies and disappointments than most others. Like any sensible person I am willing to see money spent on improving their lot, but like the large amounts of cash that have already been forked over to self-managed Aboriginal aid plans, it will be money burned unless it improves the mindsets and behaviour of the people themselves.

That brings me to the second reason, that of change. The only thing that can possibly help the Aborigines is change within themselves. Giving money to anyone at all with destructive, self-defeating mentalities, whether it be Aborigines, Caucasian, Asian or other will not only fail to help them, it will almost certainly bring them further pain. We have now seen many times how people from society's bottom rung can be led to ruin by winning large sums in lotteries. It will be no different with very many Aborigines - rags to riches and back to rags. Parasites will hit the jackpot at their expense, or more correctly, at society's expense.

There are two big sinister suspicions about individual compensation for 'Stolen Generation' Aborigines that point to unsatisfactory outcomes.

The first is that it would encourage them to believe that the onus is not upon them to change, but rather it is upon the remainder of society to be more accommodating of them despite their adherence to a mentalities and behaviours that are deplored not just in this country but around the world.

The second is that it would not diminish in the slightest demands for massive sums to be spent on Aboriginal aid programs. Simply put, any group of people who find themselves in a position to begin milking society one way or another will never cease until their credibility is totally in tatters. By that time their bank accounts are usually in a similar state.

We have already witnessed it. Massive amounts given and nothing sensible gained.