Anthony Albanese slams Pauline Hanson’s Stolen Generation claims as ‘unworthy’ of response
Pauline Hanson’s Stolen Generation claims have been branded “untrue” by the ABC, while the PM says they are “unworthy” of a response.
Anthony Albanese has lashed Pauline Hanson’s claims about the Stolen Generation as “unworthy” of a prime ministerial response after she suggested Aboriginal children were being left in homes where they were being sexually abused.
Speaking in the Senate, the One Nation leader said the Voice proposal went too far and would not address intractable problems.
“You know, you talk about the Stolen Generation. Yes, it did happen at the time. Ask yourself why,” Senator Hanson said.
“A lot of these children would not have survived if they were not taken away from their families and that’s the truth of the matter.
“We don’t do it these days, but some of the children should because of the sexual abuse that is happening to them, but we turn a blind eye to it. We keep putting back to families that are not going to protect and look after those children. But we don’t do it to non-Indigenous families, we take the children away.
“Why is it my fault because I’m white? Why is it not the community’s fault? Why are we turning a blind eye to this? These are the problems that we really need to ask questions about.”
The proposal passed parliament shortly thereafter and will be put to a vote later this year.
At a press conference in Canberra after the passage of the legislation, Mr Albanese was asked about the remarks by the ABC’s Referendum Correspondent Dan Bouchier.
“Well, I didn’t see what Senator Hanson said, but I’m sure it’s consistent with things that she said in the past, I don’t intend to respond to them, because I don’t think that they are worthy of a prime ministerial response,” Mr Albanese said.
“I will say this. I will call for a respectful debate across the board, no matter what way people are voting, to try to, for the advocates, to do their best to stick to the facts, to not say things that they know are not true, that they know are not true, and during this campaign we’ve already seen the ramp up.
“This is constitutionally sound. People should have a respectful debate, in my view. Australia will be a stronger country. I think very strongly about this.”
Earlier, Bouchier criticised Senator Hanson’s comments in the Senate as “just untrue” and became emotional when describing the account of a member of the Stolen Generation.
“I guess if I can offer a little analysis on some of the points that Senator Hanson made, particularly where she was speaking to the Stolen Generation, and saying that many of those people that were taken quote, ‘A lot of these children would not have survived if they weren’t taken away,’ we know from the 1997 Bringing Them Home report that that is just not true,” he said.
As he described one woman’s account, Mr Bouchier choked up and became emotional.
“In fact, I was sitting on country at Cootamundra with an elder Aunty Fay Moseley, as she held my hands as her eyes filled with tears and she explained to me to be taken out of her family,” he said.
“The day she was taken along with her siblings, Lorna, she explained that they told her she was going on a holiday. Once they got her in the bus, they said that her parents didn’t love her.”
During the press conference, one journalist asked Mr Albanese how powerful the Voice would be given that on one hand, Lidia Thorpe was saying it wasn’t powerful enough and on the other, Ms Hanson was saying it was too powerful.
“The truth is, that for most people watching this, will have no direct impact on their lives. But it just might make lives better for the most disadvantaged group in Australia,” Mr Albanese said.
Earlier, Senator Thorpe declared that she will vote “No” to the Voice proposal before parliament describing it as nothing more than appeasing “white guilt”.
Declaring the proposal that would deliver no real power to Indigenous Australians, she slammed patronising political leaders who are only interested “in our culture when … you want to hang a painting in your Senate office”.
“I’m here for five more years. I don’t need no one’s vote. I don’t need anyone’s white guilt,’’ she said.
“And that’s what this is about. It’s appeasing the white guilt in this country by giving the poor little black fellas a powerless advisory body.
“You won’t acknowledge sovereignty in the racist Australian Constitution.
“This is a colonial institution. We have colonial laws. I’m here, yes, I’m here to infiltrate it, to rattle the cages, to destroy the white supremacy that is represented in this plan.
“To dispossess us and make a nice life for yourselves?”
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