NEUTRAL DAY NEEDED FOR AUSTRALIA

Indigenous leader Dr Lowitja O'Donoghue has pleaded for a change of
date to mark the country's national day in her Australia Day address
last night, saying a "neutral" day was needed.

Dr O'Donoghue, the first indigenous person to deliver the address,
also said the Prime Minister's refusal to say sorry "diminishes him as
a person".

Before the event, she had said many indigenous peoples saw Australia
Day as a day of mourning, and she planned topresent an indigenous
perspective on a highly symbolic moment in Australian history.

"I see it as a timely opportunity to be thought-provoking," she said.
"And I fully intend to be provocative ... !"

Dr O'Donoghue, a former chair of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Commission, did not shy away from that intention, using her
speech to call on Australians to find a day on which all citizens can
feel included and participate in celebrating Australian identity.

"Not a day of particular significance to any one group," she said.
"But a neutral date - one on which first Australians, older
Australians and more recent Australians can come together to tell our
stories and share our dreams."

She believed many political leaders had failed to understandthat the
racist policies and practices of the past continue to affect every
indigenous person's life.

"To claim that there is no need for apology, on the grounds of no
personal responsibility, denies that the price of European prosperity
was the near destruction of indigenous culture," she said.

While several months ago she thought the Prime Minister had "come a
long way" when he expressed his deep and sincere regret about the
"stolen generation", she said she no longer believed that
reconciliation would proceed until he apologised.

"I felt that he had opened the door towards reconciliation and that
this should be acknowledged," said Dr O'Donoghue.

"Now I feel as if we're still waiting on that doorstep. I now believe,
as do many of my people, that reconciliation will not proceed unless
our Prime Minister can bring himself to say that simple 'S word'
Sorry. His refusal to do so on behalf of the Government of the day,
diminishes him as a person and Australia as a nation."

Dr O'Donoghue described the state of indigenous health as a "national
disgrace", likening it to "Third World health within a First World
nation".

A positive step towards redressing the "cycle of damage set in motion
many years earlier" was the 1997Stolen Generations report.

But Dr O'Donoghue warned that during the next year indigenous leaders
intended to campaign for constitutional change, a meaningful
reconciliation process and the recognition of a statement of
Indigenous Rights.

She expressed worry about social ills, including homelessness,
poverty, unemployment and alcohol and drug misuse.

Dr O'Donoghue believed it was time to try some new, "possibly
controversial", approaches to drug misuse, especially heroin use.

Zero tolerance was not working, and ways of minimising harm were
needed, she said.

If reconciliation was to occur action,not just words or pieces of
paper, was needed.

A national day such as Australia Day should not be "an excuse for a
holiday", although she was aware that Australians "lead the world in
knowing how to enjoy our long weekends!"