(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The vast majority of people in Australia support the government’s decision to apologize for having forced Aboriginal children away from their families in the past, according to a poll by Galaxy released by Get Up!. 68 per cent of respondents agree with the government saying sorry for what it is known in Australia’s history as the Stolen Generation.

For over 60 years and into the 1970s, the Australian government—and Catholic Church missions—forcibly removed Australia’s Aboriginal children from their families and placed them in institutions or with foster families.

In 1995, a national Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission was established to look into the problems caused by the policy. A report released by the commission two years later concluded that the removal of children was a "violation of basic human rights" that amounted to genocide, because it sought to eliminate an ethnic group. The government began to work on several policies for the return of the "lost" children, as well as the reconciliation between Australians of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal origin.

In November 2001, the Vatican issued a formal apology for the Church’s role in the Stolen Generation.

On Feb. 13, Australian prime minister and leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) Kevin Rudd became the first head of government to formally apologize to Australia’s Aboriginal population for the pain inflicted upon them, saying, "We reflect on their past mistreatment, we reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were stolen generations—this blemished chapter in our national history. (...) The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page. (...) This was a product of the deliberate, calculated policies of the states, as reflected in the explicit powers given to them under statute. (...) We apologize for the hurt, the pain and suffering we the Parliament have caused you by the laws that previous parliaments have enacted."

Polling Data

Do you agree or disagree with the government’s decision to say sorry for the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families, also known as the Stolen Generation?

Source: Galaxy / Get Up!
Methodology: Online interviews with 1,100 Australian adults, conducted from Feb. 15 to Feb. 17, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

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