Last weekend, ACT Labor ran a scare campaign against the independents. Now, local media and The Guardian have reported that 22 years ago Canberra Liberals MLA Peter Cain, the shadow attorney-general, wrote a textbook that presented a largely positive view of the effect of colonialism and Christian missionaries on Indigenous people.
Mr Cain – who has Anglo-Indigenous grandchildren – has apologized and states that he no longer holds those views.
Why, one might ask, has this two-decades-old textbook been unearthed and brought to The Guardian‘s attention now, just two weeks before an election? And why has ACT Labor been so eager to share it on social media?
Current chief minister and Labor leader Andrew Barr has posted about Mr Cain on X, and claimed the Liberals hold “extreme right-wing views”, while Labor MLA Tara Cheyne posted a video on Facebook.
Mr Cain’s History of Australia (2002), a middle primary student workbook, published by Light Educational Ministries, presents a Christian-influenced perspective. While acknowledging that some British settlers treated Aboriginals badly, it states that “the settlement of Australia was accompanied by a desire to help Aboriginal peoples”, and that “the gospel of Jesus Christ is no doubt greatly appreciated by the many Aboriginal Christians in this land today”.
“Who is this week’s contender for the most right wing Canberra Liberal?” Mr Barr tweeted. “The Canberra Liberal forced to apologise for writing book that paints rosy colonisation picture, skips frontier wars and describes God as the ‘creator of Australia’.”
“I have sincere respect for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, and I wholeheartedly apologise for any offence given,” Mr Cain said this week.
“My own understanding of First Nations history and culture has developed considerably in the over two decades since the student workbook was authored and published, and I no longer hold these views.”
In his maiden speech, made in December 2020, Mr Cain said: “Every individual has value, irrespective of differences one from another, whether those differences be of gender, age, colour or creed, and there is incredible potential for good in every human life.”
Mr Cain is known to have a good relationship with the multicultural community, and regularly attends their events.
Perhaps Mr Cain should be judged on his recent views and actions, not those of 22 years ago. After all, as L. P. Hartley observed, “The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.”
