From The Campaign Trail

John Howard has now been converted to indigenous reconciliation. I have a view about his motivation and timing, but let's put that aside. And let's put aside the past decade where reconciliation went backwards. In his Sydney Institute speech John Howard made pledges about reconciliation. In so doing he talked of his personal struggle, his journey, and his difficulty in putting aside the times and attitudes of the 1950's and 1960's. In other words dealing with his past. Dealing with the past in order to get a better future. Imagine his struggle if he had been stolen from his family, incarcerated in an institution, denied education, condemned to a life of marginalisation and disadvantage, and fundamentally ignored by his wider community. Now there is a journey - there's plenty of information about people who have made that journey at http://www.hreoc.gov.au/social_justice/index.html