Assembly 2000

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Former Uniting Church President and former Justice of the High Court Sir Ronald Wilson will speak on "The Healing of a Nation" at the annual May Macleod Lecture at the Uniting Church’s Centre for Ministry, North Parramatta, New South Wales, on May 25.

Sir Ronald’s concern for one aspect of the nation’s need for healing was expressed recently in an article in The Australian newspaper.

Writing on April 4 he said he was disappointed that the Federal Government had ignored the call by the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families to provide national leadership in the implementation of the inquiry’s recommendations.

Sir Ronald explained how the submission of Senator John Herron, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, to the senate inquiry into the stolen generations had been seriously flawed and misrepresented the findings of the report Bringing Them Home.

Sir Ronald repeated his request, first made three years ago when he was President of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, for the Federal Government to fully implement the recommendations of the "stolen children" report, including making reparation with all indigenous people affected by policies of forcible removal.

At the release of Bringing Them Home, Sir Ronald said, "Laws, policies and practices of assimilation, and the forced removal of our children, have devastated the lives of indigenous individuals, families and communities for over a century."

He said an open acknowledgment and a sincere recognition of that history was vital if reconciliation was to have any meaning in this country.

The report recommended making reparation with all indigenous people affected by policies of forcible removal. Reparation would include: an acknowledgment of responsibility and apology from all Australian governments, police forces and church institutions which implemented policies of forcible removal; guarantees against repetition; restitution; rehabilitation; and the provision of monetary compensation.

Recommendations also referred to implementation of the international Genocide Convention, a national "Sorry Day", primary and secondary school education about the history and continuing effects of forcible separation, and funding for indigenous communities to develop regional language, culture and history centres.

Sir Ronald said a commitment to the implementation of both the spirit and the letter of those and other recommendations was "essential to the future unity, justice and peace of our nation".

The May Macleod Lecture was named after the wife of the Rev. Malcolm Macleod, a former Moderator of the New South Wales Synod of the Uniting Church, who served both the Presbyterian Church of Australia and the Uniting Church in Australia.

She set high standards in the proclamation of the Word of God, the pastoral role of the minister, and the office of eldership.

The purpose of the lecture is to present the ministry Christ exercises through the sharing of faith and love within, through and by families, within the family of God —the ministry of all those who "come not to be served but to serve".

The first May Mcleod Lecture was held in May 1987. Lecturers have included Dr Robert Banks, the Rev. Dr Denham Grierson, the Right Rev. Richard Randerson and the Rev. Dr Lois Wilson.

The lecture is free and open to the public. For further information or to confirm attendance, contact the Centre for Ministry, 02 8838 8900.

Press Release (Apr 10, 2000)

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