In a strongly worded letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Howard, Mrs Kerr said, "The evidence of Aboriginal children taken from their parents is well documented. A past-President of the Uniting Church, Sir Ronald Wilson, helped to prepare that evidence.

" It seems that we take small steps forward in our dealings with indigenous Australians, but that these are followed by giant strides backwards.

"How can your Ministers presume to brand Aboriginal people as un-Australian for threatening to demonstrate at the Olympics, when they are continually being treated as non-Australians, as people unworthy of the privileges of living in our Australian society?

In her letter of concern to the Prime Minister Mrs Kerr said: "This is not a matter of compensation, but as matter of the heart of the nation. Do we want to be a people who display a spirit of meanness, looking to deal with issues with the least possible cost to ourselves? Or do we want to be a people of generous spirit, truly living side by side in a spirit of reconciliation?"