Previous Story
Australians rally for reconciliation
|
Posted on Dec 05 2000
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Hundreds of thousands of people marched through two state capitals Sunday in rallies to support racial reconciliation in Australia.
About 200,000 people marched in the southern city of Melbourne, some of them carrying banners and shouting slogans criticizing the government for its treatment of Aborigines, Australia’s original inhabitants and now its most disadvantaged minority. Tens of thousands of people took part in a similar march in Perth, the capital of Western Australia.
“It’s just a case of people showing they’re in favor of reconciliation. It’s a statement. Statements are important” said Australia’s treasurer, Peter Costello who was one of one or several senior government ministers who took part in the Melbourne rally.
Prime Minister John Howard was not among them. Howard has angered Aborigines and many white Australians by refusing to deliver a formal government apology to the indigenous population for past mistreatment at the hands of white immigrants.
After 200 years of white settlement, Aborigines make up 386,000 of Australia’s 19 million people and are the poorest, least healthy and most likely to be jailed ethnic group. The average life expectancy is 20 years shorter than that of white Australians.
