Shayne Mallard, a Liberal member of the Sydney City Council,
last night said the former prime minister’s message was inappropriate for a
children’s playground.
“This is political correctness going mad when you put
this in the playground,” Mr Mallard said.
“What happened to the age of innocence?”
But Mr Mallard was ridiculed last night by Mr Keating’s
former speechwriter Don Watson, who said: “The truth never hurt anybody –
including children.
“And for that matter, I don’t remember children being
damaged by inscriptions on public memorials.”
The sculpture, by indigenous artist Fiona Foley, includes
several lines from Mr Keating’s acclaimed speech in the Sydney suburb of Redfern in 1992.
In the speech, he referred to the past injustice towards
Aborigines in Australia,
saying non-indigenous people had to recognise it was “we who did the
dispossessing”.
The sculpture, expected to be finished this year as part of
the council’s upgrade of Redfern
Park, features some of Mr
Keating’s words: “We took the traditional lands and smashed the
traditional way of life.”
“We brought the diseases, the alcohol,” the
inscription continues. “We committed the murders. We took the children
from their mothers.”
Mr Mallard said the council approved the sculpture last
week. He claimed he was not attacking Mr Keating’s “great” speech,
but said the council should find a way to commemorate the words in a different
location.
“I don’t see how young indigenous Australians going
there will have a positive disposition towards white Australians,” he
said.
“We all commemorated and said sorry earlier this year,
but this means everyone who goes there to play must say sorry every time
because it’s a real guilt trip.
“Every time an Aboriginal person or a white Australian
goes there, they’re going to be reminded of this. It’s out of context … I
don’t see this as part of the process of moving forward.”
Mr Keating could not be contacted for comment last night.
Source:
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23662833-5013871,00.html