No compensation for pain....

Is it just me or does everyone think it’s crass and inappropriate to be talking about compensation today?


Kevin Rudd today apologised, on behalf of the Australian Parliament, for the 'profound grief, loss and suffering of generations of indigenous Australians'.


For my money, the apology, a promise that Australian history will be taught, warts and all – and a renewed effort to close the gap between black and white Australia is what today is about.

I just don’t believe in compensation cheques…for anyone…black or white. I think they’re like lotto wins….gone in sixty seconds…

In matter of compensation, the only real winners are lawyers and psychologists. In fact, I think psychologists need to seriously consider their role in compensation cases – from my experience, these are health professionals who stop putting time and effort into healing people – instead turning their patients into victims, allowing them to tell and retell their stories of trauma - to highlight the negative (for the benefit of the courts) until that’s the only part of the story that remains.

Australia has made terrible mistakes with it’s indigenous population - we must never take a step back from that. There should be no limit to money spent on health and education for our precious indigenous population - but I think big cheques for individuals will do nothing more than create a whole new generation of victims