SYDNEY: May 21: Should today's Australians be made to pay for the abominable way aborigines were treated in the past? A government report leaked to the press says they should.

The report by former high court judge Sir Ronald Wilson, calls for big payments to the 70,000 or so aboriginal children taken from their parents in a state-funded programme that ended 30 years ago.

It says the removal of children was nothing more than an ``act of genocide'' and a ``crime against humanity''.

Official figures show that in 1994 one in 10 aborigines aged over 25 had been removed in childhood, many forcible and many when they were only babies.Unofficial figures show that up to half of this age group were separated from their families.

The children of the so-called stolen generation were taken away from their homes and brought up by white people in what most agree was a misguided attempt at assimilation.

Aboriginal leader Mick Dodson says the money, and a national day of mourning to commemorate the stolen generation, will help mop up the nation's collective guilt.

By paying up, Australia will be able to walk tall in the international community and host the 2000 Olympics with a clear conscience.What is more, the stolen generation deserves the money.

Says Dodson, ``Some of these people are absolute wrecks. Through no fault of their own they are ruined souls. Their whole existence lurches from a tragic history to a tragic future. They live each day the trauma of what happened.

When the report eventually reaches parliament - it has been delayed for no good reason - there is unlikely to be an outpouring of cash or remorse. Prime Minister John Howard thinks the best way to deal with this tawdry part of Australia's past is mass amnesia.

Said Howard, perhaps speaking for a majority of Australians,``Of course we treated aboriginals very, very badly in the past - very, very badly - but to tell children that we're all part of a sort of racist, bigoted history is something that Australians reject.''

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.