Prime Minister John Howard has promised that - if he retains office - he will implement a referendum within eighteen months to alter the constitution to recognise that Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders were " the first Australians ".
The cost will run into millions and it seems an awful lot of money to waste to put into writing something that we have known all of our lives - that the Aboriginal people were here when the first fleet arrived !
Somehow there seems to be a feeling amongst some white people that we should apologise - simply for being here ! There is a tendency to use the social rules of the present and try to demonise the first settlers for adopting the rules of behaviour that existed at that time.
It might be as well to remember that in 1788 slavery was still an accepted institution and that it was not until the 1860's that the Americans fought a bitter civil war to end it in their country. Despite this, our early settlers did not clap Aborigines in chains and put them to work as slaves.
We hear moans of anguish about white/Aboriginal relations in the early days - but not a peep about the harsh laws of jolly old England - that condoned thrashing of prisoners with the " cat of nine tails " and sentenced starving men trying to feed their families by stealing a loaf of bread - to transportation for life !
One thing is certain. Australia would be occupied by a European power because in those days it was accepted that whatever explorer first set foot in a new land, the flag of his country would be planted on the beach - and that country claimed for his king.
That being the case, our Aborigines probably lived better under the English than they may have under some other rulers. It is time to stop looking back into the past and concentrating on the present.
What is needed is less recrimination - and more effort to provide health care and education to our Aboriginal communities to ensure that they merge with mainstream Australia - and take their place as citizens of equal opportunity in this prosperous country !
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