Saying sorry for the
past is not enough

Sorry is a word that means different things to different people. Asking someone to say sorry for what they are and where they are may well cause reactions ranging from guilt relief to outright bloody-minded anger.
The takeover of Australia by the far-away British Crown was not achieved with any degree of respect for the indigenous population and it is right to admit it, learn from it and even apologise for it.
But colonisation of this vast continent was inevitable. Other civilisations around the globe had been ebbing and flowing, looting and burning, loving and leaving, as well as learning from each other for many thousands of years.
Australia's distance from the often waring civilisations of the world, coupled with the natural defence of a surrounding ocean, kept it isolated until much later than any other continent.
The challenge now is to make the best of the cultural mix we have inherited. It is to our great shame that the European civilisation has been, even to this day, so blind to the special understanding that Aboriginals have of the land. We acknowledge it in small ways like: "Gee, they make good stockmen," or "You know, it's unbelievable how they can track a bloke for miles through the bush and never lose the trail". But are Indigenous Australians ever consulted about land management issues?
Our track record on this continent so far is a pretty sorry story:

Stage 1 - Colonisation:
Set up camp, run up the flag, call the whole lot crown land and then sell or lease it to new settlers with the profits going to the far-away crown. Chase the natives away if they cause trouble.
Stage 2 - Exploitation:
Import a mob of sheep and cattle, cut all the trees down so you can find them easily, plant hundreds of square miles of wheat and keep doing it until the soil is completely exhausted. Send all the wool and wheat overseas, cash the cheques and then send all the money overseas as well in exchange for 'the nice things in life'.
Stage 3 - Exploration:
Find minerals, dig them up wherever they are and send them overseas. Use the profits in the same way as Stage 2.
Stage 4 - Rationalisation:
Sell all the public assets that were built with the money from stages 2 and 3 to overseas-owned companies. Keep telling Australians that we'll all be better off when foreigners are once again running the whole show.
The sale of Telstra is a prime example of the cheek of government to set up a 'Reconciliation Council' which then proposes 'justice and equity for all', while at the same time a vital publicly-owned asset is being sold off. Cheeky buggers like Howard and Costello tell us that it's better if Telstra is owned by only those with enough money to buy shares rather than keeping it owned by all the people.
Another danger with a 'Declaration of Reconciliation' is that it ignores the quiet on-going reconciliation that is taking place day by day, especially in places like Tennant Creek.
Like the placement of Aboriginal trainees in local businesses or the forging of long-lasting, mutually beneficial trading relationships between Aboriginal councils and local suppliers.
Sure, I'll sign a sorry book. I'm sorry that this land was taken over in such a heavy-handed way but it's what you'd expect from jailers and bureaucrats.
But I'll be really sorry if what comes out of the Reconciliation Council is an eleven paragraph homily that gets stuck up on a few lounge room walls, or in a few community centres, while at the same time the takeover of Australia continues unchecked.
Of course the crimes of the past need to be exposed. It's the crimes of the present, though, that we should devote most of our energy to solving. The colonisers have not finished their dreadful business yet.
Ordinary Australians, black and white, have more in common with each other than with the greedy bloodsucker mob who want to buy and sell us all.
Paul Cockram