SA: Numbers not the issue, policy wrong, O Donoghue says

AAP General News (Australia)
04-03-2000
SA: Numbers not the issue, policy wrong, O Donoghue says

Aboriginal leader LOWITJA O'DONOGHUE has blasted Aboriginal Affairs Minister JOHN HERRON,
saying numbers make no difference when talking about the Stolen Generation.

The former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission chairwoman says it's the
policy of removing Aboriginal children from their families that's wrong.

Ms O'DONOGHUE, who was forcibly taken from her own family, says whether a whole generation
or just 10 per cent of Aboriginal children were affected by the policy isn't important.

She says it's not helpful for Senator HERRON to concentrate on numbers.

Her comments come after a leaked submission to a Senate inquiry shows that Senator
HERRON argued that no more than 10 per cent of Aboriginal children were ever taken from
their families.

On that basis, he's challenged the accuracy of the term Stolen Generation to describe
the children.

Dr O'DONOGHUE says she's devastated by the comments, having lived through the experience herself.

AAP RTV vm/amt/dmc E

KEYWORD: STOLEN O'DONOGHUE (ADELAIDE)

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