Cabinet papers 1996-97: acknowledgment of the Stolen Generation a sorry state of affairs

The Howard cabinet supported practical action that reunited Stolen Generation children with their families.

Former Aboriginal affairs minister John Herron.

The Howard cabinet supported practical action that reunited Stolen Generation children with their families, but by late 1997 it had resolved there would be no apology from the government.

Cabinet records released by the National Archives show when the cabinet considered its response to the 700-page Bringing Them Home report of May 1997, it also considered a submission from Aboriginal affairs minister John Herron, who described it as “very emotive, (focusing) only on one view of the separation process”.

The cabinet resolved: “There will be no formal government apology.”

More than 10 years later, on February 13, 2008, then prime minister Kevin Rudd delivered a national apology to indigenous children taken from families.

The Howard cabinet’s response to the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families came after cabinet’s decision in September 1997 to restructure the organisation and downgrade its functions. Among proposed changes was that the commission would no longer be able to recommend payment of damages in relation to human rights complaints.

According to cabinet records, the changes were recommended by attorney-general Daryl Williams, who said HREOC’s existing structure had “fostered a concentration on the interests of an activist constituency”. At the same time, the Howard cabinet had moved to scrutinise the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and killed off scheduled changes that would have given the organisation more autonomy.

In April 1996, cabinet placed conditions on ATSIC making further grants, pending the appointment of a special auditor to investigate its financial management and practices. Cabinet also vetoed ATSIC’s plan for a fully elected board of commissioners who then chose a chairperson. The records released today show that Mr Herron noted that an elected chairperson would pose concerns about control and accountability “particularly where government funds are concerned”. Instead, cabinet decided Mr Herron would appoint two of the commissioners and the chair.

It was the beginning of the end for ATSIC, which was abolished by an act of federal parliament in 2005.