This is about Captain Cook and his arrival in Oz in 1770, but it could well apply to almost any country that was ever colonized.
As demands for national apologies are in vogue, here is one that Prime Minister Albanese should be giving to Aboriginal people:
We apologise for helping you to read and teaching you the English language, which in turn opened the accumulated knowledge of western civilisation to you; along with the value of thought and enterprise.
We apologise for circumnavigating and mapping Australia, thereby enlightening you as to the size and location of the continent that you have inhabited for 60,000 years. Prior to this, you had no comprehension of the continent over which you claim ownership rights.
We apologise for providing you with free doctors, hospitals, medication and medical care, which have helped you to live longer than you ever did before colonisation.
We apologise for Britain colonising this continent before some other country such as France, Holland, Portugal or Japan, inevitably would have done.
We apologise for giving you law and order, which has helped to prevent you from slaughtering one another in tribal conflicts, which at times involved eating the victims.
We apologise for developing agriculture, which today feeds your people; whereas before you survived by living off the land and often starved during drought.
We apologise for building housing for you, which you have largely neglected, vandalised, or destroyed.
We apologise for providing you with clothing made of fabric to replace the animal skins that you wore.
We apologise for constructing roads and railways and building cars, so that you no longer have to walk great distances over harsh terrain in extreme heat.
We apologise for giving you a national television station (NITV), which you routinely use as a political platform to condemn the country that provided the finance and the technology for it.
We apologise for giving you vehicles, boats, petrol, firearms, fishing gear and other modern technology, which you now use for your 'traditional hunting and fishing'.
We apologise for subsidising your travel costs to attend family funerals.
We apologise for not charging you rent on any lands, while other citizens have to pay rent and associated costs.
We apologise for giving you concessional business, housing and study loans.
We apologise for our 'racist' police who unfairly arrest you for the high rate of theft and burglaries, domestic violence & rape of minors that your people commit.
We apologise for aboriginal parents not sending their kids to school and then blaming us for their 'disadvantage'.
We apologise for developing our oil and mineral resources, which you never knew about or utilised.
We apologise for developing Uluru and Kakadu, then handing them over to you so that you can receive the tourist income.
We apologise for taxpayer’s money being paid towards your many annual celebration events such as NAIDOC Week.
We apologise for working hard and paying taxes, which in turn finance your welfare, medical care, education, etc., to the tune of $35+ billion each year.
We apologise for appointing Ministers for Indigenous Affairs in the Federal Government AND in each State and Territory, to focus on your particular needs.
We apologise for not appreciating your 'Welcome to Country' ceremonies, for which we pay you fees, even though these ceremonies imply that we are merely visitors on this land.
We apologise for the numerous white-aboriginal activists who are living very well aboard the government funded, aboriginal-industry gravy train, while some of you live in poverty. They only exist because of colonisation.
We apologise to those aboriginal activists, who after having had the benefit of a university education, are the most outspoken critics of the colonisation that provided their education.
We apologise to the aboriginal sports people who make a good living from playing sports such as football, rugby and cricket, which were brought here by the colonisers.
We apologise for being critical of those who are genetically mostly European but identify as solely aboriginal. They condemn the white colonisers who were their own ancestors, in order to claim aboriginal victimhood.
We apologise for recognising your Aboriginal flag, which never existed before 1971, and allowing it to flown along side the Australian flag.
We sincerely apologise and humbly beg your forgiveness for all of our sins; past, present and emerging.
To make amends, we are only too happy to take back all of the above material and welfare assistance, and return you to your traditional, stone age lifestyle, somewhere in the Outback. Please cease & desist your “Welcome to Country” as the majority of the population feel that Australia is for all including you the Aboriginals. Just let us know when you are ready to revert.
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| Vernon MacDonald |
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Tue, Jan 30, 3:57 PM (1 day ago) |
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