We can ignore Pauline Hanson but when Prime Minister Howard and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Herron can each be capable of uttering such a collection of gauche, insensitive, uneducated and plainly insulting remarks about Aboriginal people we must protest. Measuring them against his stature, these two forlorn, pathetic figures get no marks at all, not even for trying. I refer in particular to Howard pillorying the so-called black armband view of history, evading the admission of shame, and Herron denying the stolen children. For us whites, reconciliation starts not with guilt but with the acknowledgement of the truth. Unspeakable atrocities were perpetrated.
Guilt is unproductive, indeed harmful, but shame is another matter.
We do share the shame. Whether our ancestors came on the First Fleet or we are new migrants who came on the last plane, we all share the shame. If blood should stain the wattle. The real truth should be reflected in our shame that the golden Australian wattle had already been drenched in blood. Unacknowledged truth has a way of setting iron bands on the soul.