‘Don’t make the same mistake’: Linda Burney sends Indigenous voice warning to Peter Dutton
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney will use a speech on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the Stolen Generations apology to send a message to Peter Dutton.
Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burney is using the anniversary of the Stolen Generations apology to send a message to Peter Dutton: “Do not make the same mistake again”.
Ms Burney does not name the Opposition Leader in her speech to be delivered on the eve of the 15th anniversary of Kevin Rudd’s historic apology to Indigenous Australians removed from their families under past policies. However, it is clear that she intends to appeal directly to Mr Dutton to grasp the opportunity to support the Indigenous voice.
Mr Dutton last year expressed regret that he was among MPs who boycotted Mr Rudd’s 2008 apology to the Stolen Generations in parliament. “I understand the symbolism and I made a mistake,” Mr Dutton said after he became opposition leader in May last year.
In a speech Ms Burney is due to give at the Healing Foundation in Canberra on Sunday, she is due to say: “It’s easy to say the apology didn’t fix everything.”
“The apology was about healing a deep wound,” Ms Burney is expected to say in her speech on Sunday.
“The closing of a painful chapter of denial in our history.
“And the opening of a new chapter in our collective story, a better chapter.
“It was about people. Real people … It was the truth.
“We can never underestimate the power of that.”
Ms Burney is expected to say the apology was the catalyst for important practical change including the Closing the Gap targets that finally began to measure the progress – and lack of progress – in reducing Indigenous disadvantage.
“And importantly, it kindled hope for the next steps on the road to true reconciliation expressed in the Uluru Statement from the Heart,” Ms Burney will say.
“I know that some people who boycotted that historic day in 2008 have since expressed their regret.
“They now admit that it was a mistake.
“Don’t make the same mistake again.
“When a generous and gracious hand is outstretched – in partnership – it should be grasped.
“To do anything else would be to repeat the mistakes of the past.”
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